Crespi d'Adda in Lombardy: an utopian village

Not far from Milan and Bergamo there’s a small village called Crespi d’Adda and founded by the Crespi family at the turn of the century.
It’s a rather quaint, old hamlet that the owners of a cotton mill built to house their workers; the idea behind the project was to improve the living conditions of the people who worked in the factories.

Thanks to this project, every family got its own cottage with garden and vegetable patch.
Named after the Crespi Family, the village also had a series of educational and recreational facilities, provided to elevate the position of the working class.

Though many years have passed since those days, the place has been well preserved and Unesco only a few years ago declared it Cultural Heritage to Humanity.
In the old days the owner of the cotton mill ruled over his workmen and their families like a good-hearted king taking good care of his people from the day they were born to their deaths.
The village had its own graveyard and everything, back then, revolved around the factory and its needs.

Crespi d’Adda