Val Resia is a beautiful glacial basin located in north-east Friuli Venezia Giulia on the border with Slovenia. It is encircled by a ring of mountains which main peak is Monte Canin (2587 m) and is crossed by the Resia River. Besides its natural environment, there are several reasons that make a trip to the valley worthwhile: its dialect, its heritage of storytelling, dance, music and, above all, the typical knife-grinder’s craft, a job that many men from Val Resia, in particular those from the hamlet of Stolvizza, have made since the end of the 18th century.
Knife-grinders used to travel from one place to another with their tools in a box that they carried on their shoulders (krama), and that was later replaced by the two-wheeled cart (krosma). After the last war, the bicycle took the place of the hand-pushed two-wheeled cart, and it too was equipped for the trade. This means of transportation was a huge leap forward for knife-grinders: it meant less hassle to get around, greater distances covered in shorter time, thus more time for work and to acquire new customers. In the last century and in the years leading up to the First World War, Resian knife-grinders went as far as the most remote locations in eastern and southern Europe. So Resian knife-grinders’ workshops sprang up almost everywhere, in the towns of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in old Serbia and Romania. Others hit the closer areas of Friuli, Slovenia and Croatia.
In 1997 eight knife-grinders from Stolvizza formed an association, the C.A.M.A. (Associated Committee for the Knife-Grinder’s Monument) with the objective of building a monument, which was then inaugurated on 8 August 1998, as a memorial to the many deceased knife-grinders. On 8 August 1999, also thanks to the enthusiastic support of family members of late knife-grinders, the first knife-grinders’ permanent exhibition opened under the church of Stolvizza. Over the years it grew richer in exhibits, old machinery, bicycles, and historical photographs, creating an important museum for the Resia Valley. In 2005 the Municipality of Resia granted the association the use of the upper part of the building that used to house the school of Stolvizza until 1976. The exhibition was eventually relocated here and since then it’s housed the Museum of the Knife-grinder, a unique museum which itinerary starts with the origin and development of the knife-grinder’s trade in this valley and ends with the education of today’s youth.
