History of hemp

Cultivated for thousands of years, hemp or cannabis originated in Central Asia. This plant, which can reach six meters in height, was used as early as ancient times.

In China it was used as early as 8,000 years ago to produce textiles and for medicinal purposes. Mongolian, Tatar and Japanese peoples used it before they started growing cotton and silk.

Some research attests that by 500 A.D. some hemp plants were present in Europe, probably arriving through the movements of nomadic tribes.

Given its versatility and its many uses, hemp has become increasingly popular over the years, and around the year 1000 it was called the queen of fiber plants. In fact, cannabis was favored by fishermen for making nets because its fiber resists salt water.

Hemp in Italy at the time of the maritime republics

An important step in building hemp's reputation came with the Venetians, to whom we owe the expansion of its use in the creation of very light and strong ropes and sails.

In Italy, the cultivation of textile hemp was linked to the Maritime Republics. During the centuries of European maritime conquests, the demand for such and cordami created a real business around the plant. By the Middle Ages, our country had become the world's second largest producer of hemp, with nearly 1,000 hectares of cultivated land

Particularly notable were cities such as Bologna and Ferrara, which became famous for extensive cultivation of top-quality textile hemp.

Italy was also the primary supplier to the British Navy: sail masts, pendants, the sails themselves, tow, and even English map maps were all made from Italian hemp fiber and, perhaps, because of this they were considered among the safest and best performing vessels of the time.

Besides, the Ferrara and Bologna areas there were also hemp cultivations in Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, Salerno, Naples, and Sicily.

The decline of hemp in the early 1900s

Even in the 1930s, the hemp plant was considered a valuable commodity, as its versatility allowed for a variety of uses in different sectors of industry.

In these years, however, the hemp industry began to enter a crisis; the reason was related to the production of new materials that were resistant and easy to process, such as plastic or petroleum derivatives. Newsprint began to be produced exclusively from the wood of trees, with processes that required the addition of chemical solvents supplied by industry.

The crisis of cannabis in the industrial sectors dragged the plant's fame into a disparaging and false campaign, also due to Marijuana's use as a narcotic. The bad reputation affected cannabis for very many years before scholars could bring to light the many benefits and varied qualities of this plant.