The San Martino Museum was established by the Administration in the 1990s with the project of restoring and enhancing the west wing of Villa Kechler in San Martino di Codroipo to house the extensive collection of vintage carriages acquired by Antonio Lauda in 1997.
The original 19th-century west wing, arranged orthogonally to the main body of the villa, was used for the spinning mill and as a stable for Carlo Kechler’s horses in the first half of the 20th century.
The floor plan
Historical notes regarding the original spinning mill can be found in Ferdiano Bof’s work, ‘Mulberry Trees, Silk Spinners, and Spinning Mills in Friuli from the mid-18th to the late 19th century.’ In 1854, the steam spinning mill activity commenced at Villa Maniscalchi, subsequently known as Kechler, with 60 basins and 30 beaters.
This data is further corroborated by the 1911 Census conducted among the industrial facilities of the Municipality of Rivolto, where the San Martino silk mill was recorded to employ 160 workers (reference: Minutes of the Municipal Council of Rivolto, deliberation No. 1 – July 6, 1911).
The restoration of the west wing for museum purposes occurred between 2000 and 2005, undertaken by the architectural firm Camporini-Schiavi of Venice. The project was born with the aim of highlighting the original structure of the 19th-century spinning mill, with its impressive trusses featuring openings for natural ventilation and numerous windows along the side walls. The central section, referred to as the tower, retains the structures of wall fireplaces used to heat the rooms dedicated to silkworm breeding. The tower divides the entire west wing into two symmetrical parts, with the spinning mill to the south and the horse stables and stalls to the north.
In a long and rectangular space, typical of the Venetian villa barn, a museum was conceived, structured with bays punctuated by columns and distributed across three levels, with an equal number of levels found in the central tower surrounding a staircase well. The use of steel, iron, glass, clay, and wood in the former spinning mill, Piacenza, and Venetian seminato in the central tower gives the entire complex a harmonious result, blending elegant transparencies with the warm tones of the materials employed.
The Antonio Lauda Collection (Foggia 1925-Codroipo 2000) was acquired in 1997 by the Municipal Administration under the leadership of Mayor Giancarlo Tonutti, with Amo Masotti in the Budget department, working towards the requalification of Villa Kechler’s barn, commencing its restoration for use as a museum. The museum was established in 2001, alongside other recognized initiatives for the cultural and touristic enhancement of the city, such as the Civic Library Don Gilberto Pressacco, the Archaeological Museum in the former prisons, the development of the Risorgive Park, and the numerous projects to create bicycle paths connecting the city to the Dogal Complex of Villa Manin di Passariano, as well as the entire surrounding countryside, adorned with splendid manor houses, ancient chapels, and rural villages with some important watermills.
