Crespi d’Adda was built between the nineteenth and twentieth century by the Crespi family, near their factory, to house the employees and their families. Today it is still remarkably intact; the village is the perfect model of an architectural complex, a symbol of the birth of modern industry in Italy. Set in Lombardy, in a secluded position on a low plain, the site is bordered by the rivers Adda and Brembo, forming a peninsula called “Isola Bergamasca”. This cotton-industrial family decided to give life to this modern “ideal city of work”, where the houses and the factory were the same symbol of authority and benevolence towards to the workers and their families. The life of the whole community revolved around the factory, its rhythms and its needs were organized by the owner who provided all the needs and all the services needed in the community: church, school, hospital, recreational club, theater, public baths , grocery stores and apparel stores. Not far from the factory stands the fourteenth-century manor house in medieval style, with its tower, symbol of the power of the Crespi family. While, in a most secluded area there are the villas of the employees and the beautiful private villas to executives. Today inside there resides a community largely descendant of the workers who have lived or worked there; the factory, still in the cotton sector, remained in operation until 2004.