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Valdagno: Preface

Valdagno's town started in 861 and its name comes from the latin 'amins' then 'amnius' and means river It is first found in a 1184 document where it is a fief given by the Vicenza bishop to the Trissino family.

Valdagno coat of arms representing a sheep which stands between Agno torrent banks.

Two castles where erected on two opposite hills, one being named the Valdagno castle and the other the Panisacco Castle. However the Vicenza municipality started very soon to contend it to the Trissino family, who in turn joined forces with Scaligeri to defend it.
In 1291, in the course of the war with Verona, Venice occupied Valdagno and kept it until 1340. In 1377 it was pillaged by Bernabò Visconti and in 1404 it got back to the Venetians. From 1434 to 1439 it was occupied by the Visconti family and the reannexed to Venice by Gian Giorgio Trissino.
Between 1510 and 1514 it suffered repeated destructions by the armies of Massimiliano I in connection with the Cambrai League war. Starting from 1797, with the fall of the Serenissima Republic, Valdagno fell under the French and Austrian rule. But with the annexation of Veneto to Italy in 1866, Valdagno became part of the history of Italy. It is the birthplace of Gaetano Marzotto (1820-1910), a pioneer of the textile industry which allowed Valdagno to achieve it superb results.
Marzotto enlarged the orginal factory founded by his father Luigi in 1836. His son Vittorio Emanuele was then entrusted with its control who further extended it operations with the addition of the spinning mill of Maglio di Sopra.
Successively Gaetano, the son of Vittorio Emanuele, further developed the factory and started a wide range of social services which contributed additionally to the success of Valdagno to this day.
(based on Vicenza news Web Site)