 In the cévennes, withdrawn from the world
The novel "Silk" by Alessandro Barrico traversed
the world and was translated in almost all the languages on the
globe, attracting interest in an ensemble of valleys marked
enduringly by a monoculture, namely that of silk. In the
Cévennes valleys, equally impressed by Protestantism, one of
the episodes of the roads of European silk was played.
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"Baldabiou was the man who, twenty years earlier,
had arrived in the borough, moved right to the mayor' cabinet,
entered unannounced, placed on his desk a silk scarf in the colour
of the twilight and asked him.
- Do you know what this is?
- Woman's businesses.
- Wrong. Man's businesses: money.
The mayor had him thrown outside. But he built a
spinning mill, below, close to the river, a hangar for the breeding
of silk worms, coupled with the forest, and a small church devoted
to Saint Agnes, at the crossing of the Viviers road. He hired ten
workmen, ordered from Italy a mysterious wooden machine, all gears
and wheels, and did not say anything any more for seven months.
Then he returned to the mayor's office and placed on his desk, well
aligned, thirty thousand francs in large banknotes.
- Do you know what this is?
- Money.
- Wrong. It is the proof that you were an idiot.
Then he took the notes again, slipped them into
its wallet and was about to leave.
The mayor stopped him.
- What the hell should I do?
- Nothing: and you will be the mayor of a small rich city.
Five years later, Lavilledieu had seven spinning
mills and had become one of the principal European centres of
sericiculture and silk spinning mills..."
lessons of textiles
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The fabric of Europe is the history of many
discoveries and enterprises. It is also a history of voyages of men
and techniques, like that of the Cévenols who left for Japan
to seek the eggs of the silk worms.
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After having written the book "Lessons of
gardens", with the Institute, Claude Fauque proposed to work on a
comparable enterprise, this time devoted to places in Europe where
one can read today this enthralling adventure that made of Lyon,
Lucques, Valence, Lodz, Soufli, Manchester, Saint-Jean du Gard,
Zurich, Bursa or Tbilissi... cities or villages enduringly
marked by threads and fabric.
While waiting for this book to be born, we shall
apply to this heading the same rule of the game as that proposed
for the gardens. Each page proposes a topic and an area of
Europe.
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Each page also comprises the means "to know some
more" about words or expressions highlighted in the field: articles
on technical terms, characters, places, routes... But if you are a
subscriber, you will also have access to events, news, and
documents on the work of the Institute, which you will be able to
download, as well as to practical addresses; you will be able to
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month...
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