3 From the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, papermaking activity would have been prosperous in Amalfi as it gradually supplanted the town's economy of maritime traffic. In this period, the paper mills of Amalfi provided the Kingdom of Naples with their highly esteemed paper. Among the most important clients included the bishop's Curia, in addition to the Kingdom's court. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, the situation changed for the worse. The first cause was undoubtedly the lack of overland routes linking the coastal city of Amalfi to the inland. Only in the early nineteenth century, as shown by the municipal budgets of the time, were the necessary sums allocated to build some sections of road. Therefore the sea had to be used for trade; the conditions of which, often prohibitive, slowed The Amatruda Papermill: Between Tradition and Innovation giuseppe amendola amatruda A worker transports paper on his shoulders, 1950s. He was named Bonaventura Ippolito; everyone called him "Venturino." All photos courtesy of the author and the Amatruda Paper Mill. commercial traffic and consequentially slowed the Amalfitan economy. In the same period there was the introduction throughout the Kingdom of new technologies in paper mills, accompanied by the beginning of fierce competition in the sector. The lack of internal roads to the city presented major problems to its paper mills. Narrow streets and steep mountain trails were the only means to access the factories. The transport of raw material as well as the finished product was done in large part on the shoulders of workers or on the backs of mules. This impacted significantly on production costs, already higher than those in paper mills where new machines were in operation. The entrepreneurs of Amalfi failed to understand the seriousness of these transformative events as they unfolded. They refused to invest capital, remaining firm in their positions, holding to the certainty that offering a high quality product without equal could sustain their industry. In fact, at the National Exhibition of Manufacturing Industry, opening in Naples on August 15, 1815, it was revealed that the best paper was the Amatruda paper from Amalfi and from nearby Forte di Vietri. Not until the end of the nineteenth century did the Amalfi paper manufacturers adopt a machine with a roll that sped up the manufacturing process, allowing a considerable increase of production with less manpower effort. It was an ultimate, last-ditch attempt for the papermaking sector of Amalfi, strongly affected by the competition of the Liri Valley and Valsesia factories equipped with new machines and located close to major arteries. It changed, however, the type of paper produced, as the traditionally produced writing and printing papers were in large part replaced by wrapping and packaging paper. The most valuable type of production of the time was the briglia (bridle) paper, which was white, and used in law firms for writing; it was also used in large quantities in the Sicilian market's sector of pastry packaging. This reference to Sicily is significant, as it is precisely the Calabrian–Sicilian area of Italy, in the second half of the nineteenth century, which continued to absorb the production of Amalfi paper, allowing the Amalfi mills to survive. World War II, paradoxically, helped the paper industry's on-site activities, since the breakdown in communications between Northern and Southern Italy made the Amalfi papers the only ones available in the market of the South. The Amatruda paper mill was particularly favored due to the production of briglia paper, but also thanks to the care and attention devoted to its manufacturing process, particularly in the drying phase of the sheets. Therefore, at the end of the war and later in the fifties, Amatruda paper managed to retain a substantial market share, allowing it to continue production despite the difficulties, particularly those inherent in the road conditions. In 1950, owner Ferdinand Amatruda died and his son Luigi took over mill operations. Having worked at his father's side since the thirties, he gained managerial experience and great knowledge of the paper industry in Amalfi. Luigi was a young man with many interests; not one for solitude, he liked to live life fully, sharing the opportunities and experiences that life offered him. However, above all he loved his job and he loved paper. When the business crisis revealed itself in all its severity, and it seemed as if there were no solutions other than disposal of the company, Luigi continued to keep his factory active through the stubbornness and the strength of character that distinguished him. During the period from 1960 to 1979, the year of his death, he committed to creating a quality product aimed at the artistic and fine publishing market. It was a product that, in its details and characteristics, differentiated itself from others then present in the Italian market, and it allowed for a full-fledged recovery in production and papermill activity. The product warded off the threatened demise of a centuries-old enterprise. And it kept Amalfi, first among the Italian cities to introduce the manufacture of paper, from falling into oblivion. The solution could not be a return to the entirely handmanufactured papermaking process with watermarked moulds, winter 2016 - 17 Portrait of Antonietta Amatruda, daughter of Luigi Amatruda and currently the principal administrator of the company. Photo taken in December 2012. Set of stationery and business cards created by the Amatruda Paper Mill. the cost of which would make a scarcely marketable product. Rather, the key to Amatruda's survival lay in the development of a way for every sheet on the production roll to be born individually. This new method improved upon the continuous wire method which produced sheets that needed to be torn on two sides. Around 1963 Luigi began production of sheets using this new method for stationery, drawing paper, and individually made prints, all with four discreet deckle edges. The sheets all carried the watermark, whether in large or small formats, postcards, or envelopes. The first to appreciate and promote the product and to use it in their paper-product industry were the brothers De Luca. At the same time, clients began to arrive at the paper mill—illustrious visitors, among them the great artist Pietro Annigoni. In a short time, thanks to the interest aroused, the paper was favorably welcomed in the national market and, within a few years, also in the international market. Luigi Amatruda had won a battle, which to many seemed lost from the start. He received the greatest satisfaction in 1969, when the publisher Mardersteig in Verona printed in Bodoni type the volume A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle by Hugh MacDiarmid, on Amatruda paper. Over the years I have seen many other prized editions printed on Amatruda papers. Since the early 90s the Sibilina S.L. publishing house of Seville, Spain has printed on our papers the Sibila, magazine of art, music and literature sponsored by Fundacion  BBVA. Collaborations with Colophonarte of Belluno have been significant; just to mention two, Belluno published Quella vivida sostanza by Mario Luzi, and Al gran sole carico d'amore, dedicated to Luigi Nono. And, on cotton Amatruda paper with a custom watermark, two publications have been printed under the care of the Vatican Secret Archives: the Exemplaria Praetiosa III and IV—the Processus contra Templarios and the Causa Anglica. At his death in 1979, Luigi left to daughters Teresa and Antonietta an active paper mill looking to the future; and to Amalfi he left the continuity of a tradition. The paper production continues today, ensured by highly qualified master papermakers. They are skilled in the ancient processing techniques handed down from generation to generation, but above all they are perfectly capable of integrating the changes brought to the production process during the 1960s by Luigi Amatruda. The Amatruda mill is still run today by Antonietta and Teresa; and for now by one of their children, myself, Giuseppe. We continue in the vein of our predecessor, forever linked to a type of special and prized production, while at the same time looking to the future in the continuous search to generate every improvement to the product, according to the demands of the market. ___________ notes 1. As noted in the Perris Codex, the fifteenth-century ecclesiastical parish record of the monastery of San Lorenzo di Amalfi, "…quam fecera Constantinus filius naturalis domini Sergii da Mitruda..." (emphasis mine). 2. From the fifteenth-century parchments of the Archives of the Bishoprics of Amalfi and Ravello ,VII page 85, No. CCXLII. 3. For more, see Cfr. Teresa Amatruda, Amalfi e le sue cartiere \[Amalfi and its paper industry\] (Salerno: Industria Grafica e Cartaria De Luca, 2013): 68–75.

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