Alessandro Rossi

Alessandro Rossi (Schio, 21 November 1819 – Santorso, 28 February 1898) was an Italian textile industrialist and politician. He introduced technological innovation for manufacturing wool in Schio, Veneto. He inherited the wool mill Lanificio Rossi from his father Francesco Rossi, and converted the company into one of the main industries of Italy. He was deputy and senator of the Kingdom of Italy. Biography Alessandro Rossi was the son of the Italian wool manufacturer Francesco Rossi, who founded Lanificio Rossi in 1817. Between 1845 and 1898, Alessandro Rossi developed and grew the company; by the 1880s the company was the largest in Italy, with 5,000 employees. Before taking over Lanificio Rossi, Alessandro Rossi visited advanced factories in England and France. When he became the chief of the family firm in 1845, he renewed the machinery of the wool mill, increasing its production capacity. Alessandro Rossi inherited the mill Francesco Rossi and built other factories, such as the six-storey building La Fabbrica Alta, designed by Belgian architect Auguste Vivroux and built between 1861 and 1862. He was inspired by the ideas of Robert Owen and Sir Titus Salt and built a worker's colony called New Schio. For Rossi, it was important to give workers a sense of personalization. He created aid associations, houses, schools, kindergartens, and shares in the company profits.