Thus came into being the San Leucio district, an industrious town built around the royal palace-filand, soon to be called “Ferdinandopoli,” whose labor was distributed through Naples, at that time a trading center for the Mediterranean and European courts. 

The arrival of new textile materials, mechanical production techniques and industrial revolutions also transformed this area devoted to silk. The passion woven into the stories of some families, however, remained. So even today, in the environs of modern Caserta there are still some manufacturing companies that have been making silk artfully for generations, as the tradition of the district and the savoir-faire of their home dictates. Among them is the De Negri family, which for five generations (since 1790) has been transforming spools of thread into wonderful designs that animate meters of silk in demand all over the world. In fact, 85 percent of the fabrics made in Piana di Monte Verna are exported.