In the last part of the nineteenth century Legnago experienced a significant industrial expansion. At the end of the nineteenth century, in particular, the importance of the cultivation of sugar beet was realized. Emilio Maraini, a Lugano merchant who started the sugar industry in Italy, decided to found a sugar factory in Legnago too. Beyond the Bussè river, therefore, in the direction of Mantua, in 1897 a large factory was built for the processing of sugar beets.
The preliminary lease of the area was transformed into a purchase on August 3, 1912 signed by the Italian Society for the Indigenous Sugar Industry, which considered the neighboring plot with the Bussè canal and the railroad decidedly strategic. The land, of 27 thousand hectares, was purchased at the price of 173 thousand lire, a very high cost, but considered fair given the proximity to the inhabited center and the famous large estate of Baron Treves, who would shortly become one of the major suppliers. of chard.
The factory subsequently had a very strong development.
In 1976, after a few years dedicated only to packaging and storage, the sugar factory was closed forever. Of the industrial structure today only a chimney remains located in the center of the area where the new shopping center stands today.
