In the early 1950s, the 19th-century bridge in Albiate, built at the time of carts and wagons, was now inadequate for modern vehicle traffic and too low to withstand the flooding of the Lambro. The municipal council led by Peppino Caprotti, my grandfather, who was elected mayor in the summer of 1951, began to deal with it, because in that very year the Lambro was still overflowing. During his brief period at the head of the Albiatese municipal administration (he died in a car accident the following year), Peppino had time to lay the foundations for the important project to rebuild the bridge.

In the past, factory owners usually lived on the factory premises. This was also the case with the Caprotti family, who, before purchasing the villa in Albiate at the end of the nineteenth century, lived in the villa within the factory complex, which still stands today, although it is almost completely overgrown.

For over a century, the Caprotti factory in Albiate was a place of work, identity and memory. Its logo – the goat – and the names of its fabrics evoked strength and prestige: Leone, Vittoria, Cleopatra. Others linked the product to Italy’s geographical identity, such as Calabria and Tevere. Still others, such as Jolanda and Marina, followed the fashion of the time, or current events, such as Tosca, linked to Puccini’s opera.