The concrete cathedral - Italy

Inside a valley, in Lombardy, a visitor can admire this industrial site which preserve, inside its thick walls, peculiar architecural elements.

The decision to call it "concrete cathedral" comes from its main central body, a very high hall, with vaulted roof, and an entire floor filled with columns, so that it recalls a temple. The structure developes on different floors. A layout hard to remember at first, being not at all repetitive.

Its importance for industrial archaeology is certainly of high interest, and keeps original elements, considering it was conceived as a cement works plant.

Its origin dates back in late 19th Century, and it has maintained production untill the Sixties. A solid concrete structure has given this abandoned giant a chance to survive. Recently works started around it, and hopefully we aim at seeing this wonderful place valorized with a complete renovation.

Six vertical furnaces and  chimneys give it a unique profile. In the galleries of the subbasement, water drops throug the iron and concrete walls form little stalactites and stalagmites, with white and rust tones, in lateral recesses resembling little caves or mines.