Day Three: Fabriano and Matelica

After a wonderful breakfast in Castelraimondo, we left for Fabriano to go to the Museum of Paper and Watermarks. This museum highlights the age-old traditions of papermaking and watermarks.

Paper is considered to be an ancient tradition passed form Chinese rice paper to the west and finally to Italy. In 1483 paper making became a very important secret in Fabriano.

We saw the machines they used to make pisto or paper pulp. This paper pulp was made from rags and water. Once they found out how to make the paper water proof by dipping it in a gelatin it fixed the problem of not being able to write on the papers. It was declared that official documents would only be kept on parchment made of animal hide however, because paper would only absorb the ink. By melting the animal bones and skin in hot water they produced a water proofing gelatin for the papers.

Today there are a total of 60 paper factories in Fabriano and Fabriano paper is known world wide. Fabriano was also one of if not the first place to invent the idea of water marking as a trademark for paper. After paper was being produced in Fabriano there were many copy cats and the water mark helped to ensure the quality of a paper. As a lack of raw material and rags were hard to find another substitute had to be found. In the late seventeenth to early eighteenth century paper export was taxed and therefore very expensive. They began to use cotton fibers for the paper and continued to make the paper as an art. They would make water marks with a coat of arms and blacksmiths to signify the mark of Fabriano.

Today, cotton is the main material used to create paper in Fabriano. After our tour of the paper making process in Fabriano we viewed many different watermarks and learned how to create them. Today there are only 2 people in the world that can create these special watermarks.

I loved the atmosphere of the paper museum, the craft that goes into these beautiful works of art. It was so amazing to learn about the process of making paper. Italian culture is everywhere and it’s beautiful to see how it is incorporated into our culture today. Learning about the art of watermarking and paper crafting and the man and his daughter who are the only two people in the world who can craft such works of art currently. It would be a shame to see the art form die out but Italian culture can be present in our culture but it can also fade away with the secrets of a family.

After the tour in Fabriano, we drove to Matelica which is a small town in the Italian countryside. As a large group of all English speaking girls we knew that people would look at us however when we got ot Matelica the stares were very distinct and all of the shops were closed because of the Italian siesta. It is common practice to close shops in the afternoon for about 3 hours to take a nap or relax in the sun, this practice sounds great however can be quite annoying when you want to grab lunch or shop in our free time. We had quite a lot of free time in Matelica so I explored the city with some friends and spent some time in a café discovering a new love for the TV show Uomo e Donne.

After our break we made our way to our first wine tasting of the travel at the Centro Italiano di Analisi Sensoriale where we learned how to properly taste wine and the consumer science behind marketing strategies. The tasting focused on more of the marketing strategies towards the beginning which I enjoyed being an international management major but I found it a little strange as well. My favorite part of the tasting was learning the many descriptions of wine such as: sweet, salty, acidic, sapid or bitter. We used one white wine to practice our new skills and there was salt or vanilla added into the wine to see if we could accurately describe the tastes and feelings.

Although it was not what I was expecting I became more knowledgeable about how to describe and taste wines. I enjoyed everything we did and especially loved the paper museum and its furry feline friend. Although it didn't necessarily correlate with any of our readings it was a beautiful opportunity to see the history behind paper which is now such a modern necessity.