Righellati Power Plant

At the end of the nineteenth century Lanificio Marzotto was a company of national dimensions. The qualitative and quantitative leap mainly started after the construction of the second factory at Maglio di Sopra (1884) required a similar leap also in the energy field. Despite the modifications implemented, the jumps of the municipal canal and of the Maglio were proving to be insufficient.

Eng. Alessandro Marzotto tackled the problem firsthand: he focused his attention on the territory north of Valdagno and decided to use the waters of the initial stretch of the Agno river, from Recoaro to S. Quirico, and those of its numerous tributaries.

One of the first applications for water deviation affecting the territory of Recoaro that Marzotto submitted towards the end of the nineteenth century concerned the stretch of the Agno river between the Facchini bridge and the Righellati bridge. Two water outlets were present in this area, both located on the left bank, which served two different factories. The first housed a sawmill, while the second a wheat mill and a plaster mill (this had long been owned by Marzotto).

Having purchased the water rights also from the sawmill, Marzotto submitted a project in 1896 to rearrange the entire trunk into a single branch. The intake works were planned downstream of the Ponte dei Facchini bridge, from where a canal of over 1110 meters (partly suspended on fine round arches) would be used to convey the waters to a small loading tank (about 20m3). A 53-meter-long pipeline would eventually lead them to feed a turbine located in an engine building in the Righellati district.

The Righellati power plant, now owned by Eusebio Energia, is currently in operation.