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constmcted from creek stones from nearby Doctors Gully, bricks from Abbotsford
(Melboume) and timbers from the local forest, its design reflecting the architectural
traditions of northem Italy and the Tyrol. With walls 600 centimetres thick cemented
with limestone, it had a central two-storey pavilion wdth flanking single-storey wdngs.^*
Its ceUar, Uke the Graggionis', had been skilfully constmcted, wdth steep stone stairs,
dry-stone walls and a recess for placement of a religious effigy: a statue of the
Madonna in a glass dome dating from the 1850s.^' The Lucinis were renowned
throughout the district for the quality of their pasta products, vermicelli and macaroni
both being manufactured with water from the local springs. Produced in a kitchen at
the back of the property, it was sold in Melboume, Adelaide, Sydney and (according to
local folklore) Italy. Winning prizes at the Melbourne International Exhibitions of
1880 and 1881 and at Bendigo,'" it demonstrated to the broader Australian community
some of the skiUs of the Italian-speaking settlers.
During the 1860s and 1870s, Pietro may also have traded his wine suppUes
with (previously mentioned) wealthy Italian merchant Fabrizio Crippa, who had arrived
in Spring Creek from the Como region of Italy during the 1850s. Purchasing large
tracts of land for 15,000 grape-vines, he had also planted fruit trees, tobacco and
vegetables. Like the macaroni factory, his home Parma House (ref figure 10) reflected
the cuhivated architectural heritage of Italy rather than the vemacular traditions of
some of his compatriots. Built in 1864, it was a two-storey stuccoed brick villa with a
slate hip roof and four matching chimneys, large wine ceUar with handmade brick
arches and a deep well. Long stone benches along the front of the bouse were a
reminder of similar features in Italy: a place where family members would sit and while
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