Land, water and energy have always been intertwined in the valley of the Agno river. The waters of the Agno river and its tributaries have animated the corn\u00a0mills,\u00a0forges,\u00a0cloth\u00a0fullers,\u00a0sawmills, and plaster mills scattered around this area, for centuries. Additionally, waters have also played an important role for tourism thanks to the thermal springs of Recoaro.<\/p>\n
The history of the use of the water resource in the area was, however, subject to a significant qualitative leap with the interventions carried out by Lanificio Marzotto between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century. It was a real energy strategy, mainly implemented by eng. Alessandro Marzotto, that culminated in the construction of hydroelectric power plants in the upper Agno valley. Alessandro Marzotto initially focused his attention on the Valdagno canal and on the Maglio di Sopra canal, which he modified to use the water jumps more efficiently for the two factories of the wool mill Lanificio Marzotto. The growing need for energy, however, urged him to exploit the water further upstream, from San Quirico to the mountains of Recoaro. During the first two decades of the twentieth century Marzotto was granted the rights required to use water in the area, obtained concessions for new branches or for the expansion of the existing ones, bought the old factories in the area (sawmills, mills, forges) and shut their business down to carry out radical restructuring initiatives in order to make them fit to host the new turbines. His ultimate goal was to give the Lanificio an indispensable resource for its development: energy.<\/p>\n
By the mid-1920s, the project could be said to have ended: as many as 14 power plants had been built. Eight fell within the territory of Recoaro: Gazza, Richellere, Frizzi, Bruni, Margherita, Ponte Verde, Facchini and Righellati. The remaining six in the Municipality of Valdagno: Seladi, Torrazzo, Marchesini, Maglio, Cor\u00e8 and Valdagno (the last and the third last located in the company factories).<\/p>\n
These structures were, and still are, conceived and organized according to a drop system, by which any collected water was never dispersed after the exploitation of a jump and was conveyed into the derivative channels of the following plant through appropriate outlets. The total development is approx. 21 km of canals along the valley for about 10 kilometres. Over half of them are covered. Each plant houses one or two turbines and often a room used as an apartment for the person\/guard working at the plant. The most remarkable hydraulic and architectural works include the loading basins, the canals, the tunnels between the valleys, the viaducts to overcome the roughness of the soil, the canal-bridges over the Agno rivers and its tributaries, the long pipes feeding water to the turbines.<\/p>\n
Decommissioned by the company in the early 2000s, the turbines were sold to Eusebio Energia and Impianti Agno. The two companies have started major all-round restructuring and reactivation works to foster the history of water as a source of energy in the territory of the upper Agno river valley. This scenario that has recently expanded with the construction of three other small aqueduct plants.<\/p>\n
An over one-century long history where territory, water and energy come together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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