Industria Cartaria Fenili Spa

INDUSTRIA CARTARIA FENILI SPA

Cartiera Fenili was founded in 1972 by the brothers Pietro and Alfredo Fenili with the aim of producing and marketing 'tissue' paper. Already in the 1960s, the Fenili brothers, at the time concentrated in the food sector, entered the world of paper, as partners of a company in Vorno, a manufacturer of smooth corrugated and packaged paper.

The subsequent entry of the children into the company strengthened the production and commercial activity, also allowing the transmission of sectorial knowledge from generation to generation.

Today the company, proud of its roots so far and able to meet the expectations of the current paper world, wanted to testify its renewed appearance, but still firmly linked to the heritage of its decades of experience, taking the name of Industria Cartaria Fenili SpA

Past Present Future.

Three times, three dimensions, one result: the combination of 'quality and reliability'.

THE PAPER MILL FENILI OVER THE YEARS 

1960s - The Fenili brothers enter the paper industry

1972 - Cartiera Fenili is born

1980s - The children join the company by strengthening the productive and commercial activity

2008 - The company takes the name of Industria Cartaria Fenili SpA

2015 - Industria Cartaria Fenili Spa is acquired by Centralcarta Srl

History

Papermaking in Lucca has very distant origins and is closely linked to the wealth of water present in the area. A first important trace dates back to 1307, the year in which the Cartolai Guild was created in Lucca. The Cartolai dedicated themselves to the production of parchment paper for writing (produced with the fleece of animals - sheep and goats - also called 'parchment') and mainly produced paper and books, among which the so-called 'books of reason', used by merchants to mark the administration.

In 1400 the activity of the Cartolai ceased and, at the same time, in Bagni di Lucca the paper obtained with rags began to spread.

In the mid-1500s the first real paper mill was born in Lucca by Vincenzo Busdraghi. The site was an old mill, equipped and restored, thanks also to the financial help of the noble Buonvisi family from Lucca. For about a century this remained the only existing paper mill in the Lucca area.

Around the middle of the 17th century some important noble families of Lucca, and in particular the Biagi family, dedicated themselves to the paper sector and at the end of the century there were 8 paper mills in the State of Lucca: the Buonvisi paper mill, the Montecatini paper mill in Piegaio, the Biscotti paper mill in Villa Basilica, Tegrimi paper mill in Vorno, Captain Francesco Pacini's paper mill at Villa Basilica, Grassi paper mill, Anchiano paper mill and Collodi paper mill. Among these, the Tegrimi di Vorno paper mill stood out, which produced excellent quality paper, perhaps thanks to the excellent water of the area, and had intense relations with foreign countries.

In this period the paper mills in the Lucca area were generally on three floors, which corresponded to the paper processing stages:

On the ground floor there were the vat (tub where the rags were washed) and the piles (a sort of wooden hammers moved at regular intervals by water mills for shredding the rags);

On the first floor the rags were prepared, the paper finishing works were completed and the packaging in reams and bales was carried out;

On the top floor there was a drying rack.

The 8 paper mills of this period reached an annual production of 16,000 / 20,000 reams of paper.

However, this flourishing of paper mills and the consequent prosperity led, towards the end of the 17th century, to the 'war of rags'. It was a fight between some rag merchants, who, through the port of Viareggio, aimed to export their product, and the paper mill entrepreneurs, who wished to keep the raw material at home. The 'paper makers', that is to say the entrepreneurs of the paper mills, won the day, and the export of rags was limited and regulated.

The eighteenth century was the scene of strong developments in the paper sector and paper continued to be a source of intense activity in Lucca.

The following century will identify in the year 1834 a very important turning point for the paper sector in Lucca: in fact in this year a pharmacist of Villa Basilica, Stefano Franchi, accidentally invented the paper-straw, that is the yellow paper used for packaging. He used a compound consisting of straw, mortar and water. Thanks to this 'invention' it was possible to create a product that was easy to supply and at low costs. The success achieved was truly remarkable, just think that in 1911 the province of Lucca 'boasted' 106 artisanal and family-run paper mills, with about 1,400 employees in total. And in this context it was precisely the paper-straw that was the main product with 65,000 quintals of production per year. Such was the importance of paper-straw

In 1971 there were 211 paper mills in Lucca and in the seventies the paper-straw was replaced by the production of tissue and corrugated cardboard. The era of the much loved 'yellow paper' was now over: in 1976 a law aimed at protecting water as an environmental asset made its production too expensive. Fortunately, the local companies were able to transform themselves and dedicate themselves to new products, creating a paper center of global importance in Lucca.