Alessandro Rossi

Monumento al Tessitore (Monument to the weaver) is a sculpture in Schio commissioned by Alessandro Rossi.

Alessandro Rossi (21 November 1819 in Schio – 28 February 1898 in Santorso) 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.

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. In 1878, he established a technical school in Vicenza. He also promoted the first hydroelectric plants in Italy, as they were a cheaper source than imported coal.

In 1892, Rossi resigned as President of his company and he dedicated to politic activities.

Support to protectionism in Parliament In 1866, Alessandro Rossi was elected to Parliament. Four years later, he was elected as Senator. In 1876, he passed from a free trader to a representative of industrial protectionism. In 1870, Rossi was commissioned by the Council of Industry Trade for an official inquiry into Italian competitiveness. In 1874, he concluded that manufacturers needed state protection, recommending tax relief and custom duties. He was a leader in the industrialization of Italy after the unification and proposed a model for other industrialists. such as the establishment of high duties,