Since time immemorial
the Alessi family has been firmly established on Lake Orta. We originally come
from Luzzogno, the oldest village in the Strona valley.
The first Alessi
I've traced was called Giovanni; in 1633 he married a certain Caterina Gozano
in Luzzogno. That's all I know about him, and I don't know a great deal more
about the eight generations separating him from me. I nonetheless have no doubt
that my forebears were among the many men from the Strona valley who, in the
seventeen hundreds, went as far as Germany to learn the trade of pewter-maker.
Some of their
number stayed on to make their fortune; others returned home and opened the
first craft workshops. Such were the beginnings of the Omegna (and its suburb
Crusinallo) makers of metal household objects, today one of the most dynamic
centres in Europe for the production of such items.