Today we went to Montaro Silk Factory and Lake Como. Montaro silk factory is a factory that designs and supplies silk patterns to high end brands. There we saw their archive of fabric and their factory. Their archive was a collection of books and old fabrics dating back to the late 1800s. Here is where the designers look to get ideas for their customers. After we saw the books, we went to the factory. In the factory we saw scarves that were being produced for next year. We saw how they were being pressed, washed and stored. The two fabrics that they specialized in were wool and silk. It was interesting to see a factory producing a high quality product.

After the factory we took a tour bus to Lake Como. Here there was a beautiful lake, surrounded by very big houses. The town was a smaller town. They had very nice shops and good gelato. After exploring the town, we took a boat tour. The boat tour was literally just a ride around the lake. We saw some more houses, and mountains. The best part about the boat tour was just being on the water. It was very relaxing and the lake was stunning. Then it rained. Thankfully I was prepared with my a rain jacket and boat shoes.

After the boat tour we went back to the hotel and the events of the day were over. The things that I learned today were that factories in Italy are very complex, and the fashion business is extremely important to the Milan economy. Also Italy is not only a tourist destination, but a home to some American celebrities, like George Clooney who lives on Lake Como.