Silk silk during the Medieval age. The first center to introduce silk production to Italy was the city of Catanzaro during the 11th century in the region of Calabria. The silk of Catanzaro supplied almost all of Europe and was sold in a large market fair in the port of Reggio Calabria, to Spanish, Venetian, Genovese and Dutch merchants. Catanzaro became the lace capital of the world with a large silkworm breeding facility that produced all the laces and linens used in the Vatican. The city was world-famous for its fine fabrication of silks, velvets, damasks and brocades. Another notable center
Lehigh Valley Silk Mills The Easton Industrial Corporation managed the company from roughly 1933 – 1985, periodically loaning the property. In 1991, Pfizer Pigments Inc. transferred the property to James and Helen Garofalo and Helen Beth Garofalo-Vilcek who subsequently transferred the property to the City of Easton in 2006. One of the most important men of the American Silk industry, Desiderius George Dery, also made his home in the valley. By 1920 he was the largest single producer of silk in the world, and 8 of his 15 mills were located in the Lehigh Valley. The demise of the silk industry in the Lehigh