During the visit to Greece, an agreement was signed between two territories united by the same tanning tradition: the delegation will visit the Vicenza district in spring 2023
The twinning between the Greek island of Samos Karlovasi and Arzignano, two territories united by the same tanning tradition, is official. This was sanctioned by the trip which took place at the end of the summer by the delegation of the city of Vicenza, represented by the deputy mayor Enrico Marcigaglia, who is also councilor for security, commerce, tourism and communication, and the councilor for public works and urban planning Riccardo Masiero. The institutional trip allowed to meet the mayor Alexandros Lyberis and his administration, with the aim of finalizing the last details necessary for the signing of the twinning. During the event, Lyberis and the deputy mayor of Arzignano, sitting on an ancient desk of the last Samos tannery kept in a museum, signed the agreement between the two towns.
On the occasion of the meeting, the administration of Samos organized a choreography dedicated to the reopening of the Karlovasi Tanning Museum, which had been closed after the Aegean earthquake (Richter scale magnitude 7) occurred on October, 30th, 2020, which had caused serious damage throughout the island and even some victims. In spring 2023, approximately between April and May, the Mayor of Karlovasi and the delegation of Samos will visit Veneto to visit the main structures of the Arzignano district. The tour will include some of the tanneries and chemical industries that are world-class excellence, but also other innovative structures such as Acque del Chiampo, which represents one of the most innovative and technologically advanced Italian water purification plants, and the Leather District.
“The friendship pact with the island of Samos – declares the deputy mayor Enrico Marcigaglia, promoter of the twinning – is a further step towards the promotion of our city. The island of Samos in the nineteenth century was the ancient tanning capital in the Mediterranean, and therefore this international brotherhood represents a symbolic and important passing of the baton, between two territories united by the art of leather processing. The two cities are in fact united by the same entrepreneurial
spirit aimed at the tanning industry, albeit for Arzignano” “this vocation is still active, while for Karlovasi it belongs to the past. Samos is an island rich in history and with beautiful naturalistic settings that absolutely deserves to be visited. The signing of the agreement represents the starting point of a path of closeness and exchange which must be built wisely and effectively in the years to come: schools, businesses, tourism, culture and history they will be the vectors on which to design the projects of proximity and interchange. With our trip we have put a first “stone” of what could be a wonderful sharing experience that we want to extend to our citizens and of course to entrepreneurs.”
The Greek city of Samos Kalovasi was the world capital of tanning until 1912. The golden moment of the island’s tanning art corresponds to a period between 1880 and 1930: at the time in the city of Karlovasi alone there were about fifty tanneries, which employed over 300 people. The Karlovasi Tanning Museum was built in the second half of the last century to allow not only to know this craft and its history, but also as a tourist attraction, since tourism, especially in the summer, is the main source of wealth for the island.