12 - The Paper mill and the woolen mill

Next to the Tower, in 1408 the activity of the paper mill began and later also the activity of a grain mill. The presence of the river was decisive. 

The paper mill was one of the most important of the Papal State and remained in operation until 1895. It was property of the family of Montefeltro, it was the only one in the Marche region together with Fabriano. Then it was donated in 1507 by the count Guidobaldo to the chapel of the holiest Sacramento of Urbino that owned it until 1870.

It stopped working in 1895 and then it became a spinning mill and then a woolen mill thanks to the Carotti: in 1914 the Carotti family bought everything from the Albani family of Pesaro and moved to Fermignano the previous started activity in Cagli, because the presence of the river guaranteed ease of use and the railway guaranteed commerce. 

In December 1945, on the left bank of the Metauro river, the foundations of the new Carotti woolen mill were laid, it was then finished in February 1947 but in 1990 the activity ceased. 

The story of the woolen mill is a very important piece of the economy of Fermignano because it has given work to many people and it made the territory develop a great economic sector. 

In the background of this area of Fermignano, three kilometers far from the castle, in the plain of San Silvestro, there was an old Benedictine abbey dating back to 1040; today we have only the crypt. The legend tells us that in that area the troops of the Roman consuls Claudio Nerone and Livio Salinatore defeated the army of the Carthaginian leader Asdrubale bringing about the end of the Italian adventure of his brother Annibale who was waiting for reinforcements in the Ozi of Capua. It was the year 2017 b.C. and someone is convinced that something is remained from that battle and that on the Montelce hills there is the grave of the Carthaginian Duke. Also Michel de Montaigne during his trip to the duchy of Urbino, in 1581, went up the Montelce hill to see the grave of Asdrubale, the same as Giacomo Leopardi and Giovanni Pascoli. Recent studies however consider it as the remains of a wall perimeter of the thirteenth and fourteenth century.

In perspective beyond the Metauro river, in the locality of Ca Melle, there is the house where in 1444 Donato Bramante was born. He is considered the greatest architect of the Renaissance. In 1873 the Bramante association was founded by some families of Fermignano to encourage the research and the cultural activities of the town.