This structure, unique in the world, offers its visitors the magic of going back in time and directly experiencing the ancient techniques of paper production during guided tours in Italian, English, German, French and Spanish.You can admire the centuries-old machinery used in the production of handmade paper: the ancient wooden hammers which, driven by a water wheel, beat and shredded the linen, cotton and hemp rags previously collected in the mighty stone piles; the Dutch car installed in the paper mill museum on November 18, 1745; the eighteenth-century presses used to remove excess water from the sheets; the machine continues in the round. All these machines for the production of paper have been restored and made functional, and are operated during the visit with the strength and power of the waters of the Canneto torrent to make you relive the thrill of creating a sheet of the fine Amalfi handmade paper.

Visit: Museo della Carta, Via delle Cartiere 23, 84011, Amalfi Italy

In fact, all the steps of the various processing phases and the characteristics of the materials used will be illustrated. During the visit, you will also have the opportunity to make your own Amalfi paper sheet directly.

The rags that were used in the manufacture of handmade paper could be made of linen, hemp cotton, jute: excluding those of animal origin, and silk, both for the stiffness of their fibers, which was ill-suited to make paper , both because in the leaching operation they altered and destroyed. The rags having the fibers almost free from incrustations, their transformation into paste did not require that a cleaning and destruction of the fabric to isolate the fibers. In the transformation of rags to paper the first operation that was carried out was their cleanliness followed by hand cutting and at the same time the separation from patches, seams, hems, buttons, all those rigid and hard parts that could damage as well as the also produced the machines.

After this first phase there was the leaching, in special tanks.

The aim was to free the rags from impurities like fatty substances that could not be removed differently. Once the leaching took place, they were washed to free them from the leaching and other impurities that had not yet moved away. Amalfi - Museo della Carta - the knitted pile This washing was followed by the fraying whose function was to destroy every trace of fabric without the filaments being cut. This treatment served as preparation for another work, the refining in which these filaments were in turn reduced into fibers suitable for making paper. The filamentous mass that was obtained with the fraying was called frayed or half pasta, as opposed to the whole pasta that was obtained with the refining that took place thanks to huge wooden knives that beat and shredded the rags previously collected in stone piles.

Amalfi - Museo della Carta - tinoThe mixture obtained diluted with water was ready for processing. The whole pasta was taken with special wooden drawers and immersed in the Tino (tub lined with majolica internally). The cartaroo immersed in the vat a frame whose bottom formed by a tightly woven metal net gathered a quantity of pasta, distributing it in a form; casting the water remained a thin layer of material.

• Confirmation will be received at time of booking
• Not wheelchair accessible
• This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate