As already highlighted in other articles, Hemp is one of the oldest fiber plants cultivated by man.
In Italy some pollens of Cannabis Sativa have been found in Emilia Romagna in three sites of the Middle Neolithic (4500-4000 BC). The researchers, having carried out the relevant surveys, deduced that the presence of hemp was of anthropic nature, therefore, attributable to cultivations carried out by man.
More recent findings of objects and yarns used in the Etruscan (8th century BC) and Roman civilizations , where it was most likely used in the construction of military cordage, have confirmed the presence of the plant since ancient times.
The economic importance of hemp takes us back to the Middle Ages , where the processing of the plant, although complex, was refined and allowed the creation of textiles, clothing, paper and, to a lesser extent, even food products for domestic use.
It had great expansion during the period of the Maritime Republics where it was used both in trade and in the military field for the creation of sails, ropes, baskets and various objects.
The cultivation of fiber hemp, in our country, has become increasingly widespread over the centuries until reaching its peak in the twentieth century. The cultivated areas ranged from Emilia Romagna and Piedmont in the North to Campania in the Center-South.
As main production sites it is worth mentioning the area of Ferrara and Carmagnola (TO) and Frattamaggiore (NA), important places both for cultivation and for subsequent transformation.
In Tuscany, hemp sativa was grown mainly in the Serchio River Valley, from Garfagnana to Versilia between the provinces of Lucca and Pisa, and in the Val d'Orcia in the Siena area.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy was the second largest producer of hemp in the world, (behind Russia) first for quality and first in the ratio of "cultivated area/quintals produced".
The maximum national production of hemp fibre occurred in 1940 , confirming the importance of the use of the plant even during the Fascist period.
Unfortunately, a lack of "industrialization" of the production processes compared to what happened in France and Germany, the appearance of synthetic fibers that were easier to work with and the subsequent policy of prohibition in America first and then in Europe (equation of indica hemp and sativa hemp) (absurd what happened in Italy where on the one hand the Fascist regime exalted its use at an industrial level and on the other considered the indica variant "a plant that was an enemy of the race") led to the decline of national hemp cultivation .
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