Word: valdagno
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Towering above the quaint tile roofs of Valdagno. a village in Northern Italy, are two imposing structures-a huge textile mill, now being enlarged into Europe's biggest spinning and weaving plant, and an eight-story grey marble mansion. Both belong to the Marzotto family. So do the village's hospitals, orphanages, parks, cafes, hotels, shops and just about everything else, including the railroad station and the 20-mile electric railway that links Valdagno with the outside world...
Hawk-nosed Gaetano Marzotto, Count of Valdagno and Castelvecchio, scion of a long line of Italian textile men, hopped into his Lancia one day in 1949 and headed south through the boot of Italy for a vacation. When night fell, the count stopped at one bug-ridden hotel after another, looking for a place to sleep, but found them all booked solid. Marzotto finally slept in his car, woke up rumpled and resolved. He dashed back to Rome, called on President Einaudi and Premier de Gasperi, and asked: "Do you realize how much good tourist money Italy is losing...
...watching crowds along the 1,000-mile course (Brescia to Rome and back) were almost as intense as the drivers. But wealthy Papa Marzotto (Count of Valdagno Castelvecchio), who had supplied the boys with the best in snappy motor cars, was so mad at his venturesome sons that he refused to go out to see the start of the race...