After the earthquake of Oct. 26, 2016, the team spirit of Fedrigoni and an entire village came together for the reconstruction of a historic and central establishment for the community of Piòraco, Italy.

For many months the works that went towards the reconstruction of Piòraco’s paper mill, one of Fedrigoni Group’s flagship plants which was almost entirely destroyed, fortunately without any injuries, from the earthquake of Oct. 26 2016, which hit Umbria and Marche, have been in full swing.

 

 

Piòraco is a small, beautiful, and proud village, nestled between the mountains, with the river Potenza running through it. Known only to paper connoisseurs, and to some climbers and cyclists, it is in a logistically difficult territory, battered by the last earthquake.

But hard work and the culture of enterprise is winning: of the sites affected by the last earthquake, Piòraco is one of the very few that began reconstructing straight away, and today is at a great stage, thanks to the persistence of the people and institutions involved, and the investments of Fedrigoni Group. Meanwhile, elsewhere there are still discussions on how to remove rubble.

Today, the Fedrigoni Group says it wants to show its customers that the birthplace of their paper is coming back "and it’s more beautiful than ever."

In December 2017, the mill will be ready to return and produce paper of excellence, thanks to the two new machines and additional improvements that will enable the factory’s production capacity to rise by 20%.

With the daily shifts from 5 a.m. to midnight, and between 50 and 150 men busy every day, the company plans to finish rebuilding in record time and reassume work almost only a year after the earthquake.

The Piòraco plant employs 140 people, all of which are residents of the village that for many decades has dedicated itself, generation after generation, to the manufacture of valuable papers—paper for passports, Italian and of other countries, but also papers for drawing and art, and for high-end packaging.

The mill in Piòraco is one of four sites of Fabriano, all located in Central Italy. Fabriano is part of Fedrigoni and produces banknote papers as well as papers for the art, school ,and office markets. Fabriano's annual production capacity is around 200,000 metric tons.