The history of the old Pieri Spinning Mill

Prisma LAB stands in a newly built structure where the Pieri Spinning Mill once stood. This factory, which bears witness to the textile industrial past of the area from which the new architecture draws its inspiration, was built in 1938 by Anselmo Pieri.

Pieri was already active in the textile sector, with a company in Valbisenzio where, during the First World War, he produced blankets for the Alpine troops.

The factory on via Pistoiese hosted one of the first third-party spinning mills in Prato and three generations of weavers: Anselmo, his sons Pio and Piero, and their grandchildren including Franco. At the end of the Second World War, however, the Germans mined and blew it up in June 1944 as they retreated from the city. Only the perimeter walls remained standing, but it was rebuilt by Anselmo's heirs and continued to operate until recent times.

During its years of greatest development, it employed 29 workers, had three assortments and four spinning frames, and produced third-party yarns for the city's major wool mills. Among the most innovative productions, in more recent years, was the 70/30 yarn (wool and nylon) which was twisted and used for Shetland knitwear.

The demolition and redevelopment

The demolition of the former Pieri factory, over three thousand square metres nestled between via Filzi and via Pistoiese, began in 2017 and, in the following years, the works led to the construction of the building and the establishment of the services inaugurated on 23 October 2023.

The entire operation was made possible thanks to the "PIU Prato" project, presented within the framework of the Urban Innovation Plan launched by the Tuscany Region - funded in total with 46 million euros from the Regional Operational Programme (ROP) of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2014-2020 - which brought to the City of Prato in 2016 total resources of 8 million euros in funding, of which 6,031,666.85 in regional grants, and 2 million in municipal investments.