The Jews of Brescia:
Iron and Star of David
Fact Paper 34
http://www.hebrewhistory.info/factpapers/fp034_brescia.htm
"Considering the movement from East to West and the slowness of the diffusion of the new technology," continues Don Franco, "it can be affirmed that the ironworkers began operations in Valcamonica between the end of the ninth and the beginning of the eighth century BCE, almost a century and a half before [it appeared in] Switzerland."
Etruscan inscriptions dated to about 700 BCE. were recently identified near Como, as well as in other areas of northern Italy.
Industrial and commercial activity spread out from the area between the sixth and fourth centuries. The importance of iron for tools and weapons led to Cammuni contacts with the Myceneans, Celts, Romans and Greeks. An incursion of the Celts led to a period of dominance coinciding with the development of the La Tène culture to the north from about 300 to 189 BCE. Historians had hitherto proposed the initiation of ferric technology in Europe to the area of the La Tène culture. It is now a reasonable assumption that the technology went north from Valcamonica, where it had already been practiced for centuries.
A step into the Bienno smithies is a step back into medieval times. The forges are powered by huge water-wheels, fed by a viaduct from the Oglio River and geared to 18" diameter logs headed with massive three-foot iron hammers. The artisans turn out farm equipments and other iron artifacts. Some Bienno smithies have been in operation since the 12th century. The iron industry of the region dates back to pre-Roman times.
