15 Born in Italy to a Swiss father, Giovanni Stucky grew up travelling around Europe, where he refined his skills as a mechanic, designer and visionary, before settling as an adult in Venice. The adventure that was to make him famous began in 1882, with the construction of a mill on the Giudecca island. The intuition that wheat could be transported more easily by sea than by land, and the desire to make his city the “Italian Manchester”, resulted in a deal of colossal proportions. The Molino Stucky operated for half a century in splendour, grinding through numbers and records: activity 24 hours a day; over 1,500 workers employed daily to produce 2,500 quintals of flour, pasta and biscuits. When expansion interventions became necessary, architect Ernst Wullekopf designed a structure that merged the whole of the establishment, including the new bodies, into a single majestic structure. Initially opposed by the municipal authority for its formal diversity, the Molino became a model for subsequent projects, such as the König & Ebhardt factory in Hanover. EXCERPT
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