Cappellificio Panizza

Historic hat factory established after 1880 in a small building in Verbano on the shore of Lake Maggiore. Thanks to a promising start, in 1882 the owner, Giovanni Panizza, acquired more land in order to expand production. In the early 1900s, Panizza started a business with the Gamba family. This partnership would take the hat factory to such levels as to convince the two partners, in 1933, to build a large new plant for the tacking and blowing department. In October 1954, Giovanni died. Eleven years later, the Gamba family was forced to abandon the business. This began a long period of decline from which the company could not escape, so that in 1981 the factory closed.