At the end of World War II, in the Garfagnana area of Tuscany, Anna Pedri gathered a number of local female weavers together to create Artes.  

Within a few years, the  company had become a shining example of a woman’s business for that period. Anna Pedri was a woman with an incredibly modern vision and would today be looked upon by all women as an inspirational female entrepreneur.

During the sixties, the company progressively concentrated on creating clothing fabrics in order to meet the growing demand of the luxury goods market. 

The winning idea of Anna, was to successfully move from the production of traditional fabrics, to the production of unique products, by using the weavers’ skills and the combination of luxury materials to create something more suitable and interesting for the fashion market.

In the late 1980’s, Anna’s daughter GraziaMaria (Zazzi) introduced a number of mechanical looms into the company, therefore increasing the production capacity.

Technological innovation represented a necessary step to take at that time.

GraziaMaria’s aim was to was continue with the extraordinary traditional art, and to transport the experience and soul of the handmade over into industrial productions, to create innovative products which had never been seen before.

 At the end of the nineties, the company was willing to further develop its production and acquired another local company, the Valserchio. The idea was to open up to new markets, to broaden the range of products on offer, and to improve the quality of the product. 

The company today is called Antica Valserchio. It is family-run in its third generation and represented by Anna’s grandchildren, brothers Alessandro and Massimo Bertolani.