The San Ambroso Church
The San Ambroso church was built for thirty-two silk spinners who came to the Cape from Treviso, in Northern Italy in the late 19th Century. They came to establish a silk industry in the Knysna Forests. These immigrants were recruited to build new lives for themselves in a country that promised them new homes, mulberry trees for their silkworms, and sheds in which to spin their silk.
The group (three families and a few single men) arrived by ship in May 1881. After an ox cart trek that lasted three weeks from the harbour to the Gouna Forest, they found only a few tents and no mulberry trees – waiting for them. Eventually, the group received government rations for a while. They were allotted plots of land, which they tried to farm. Sadly they did not have much success. Some of the men left to find work on the roads. Others took up woodcutting to earn a living
The church was consecrated in 1891 by the George-based Reverend Rooney but was somewhat dilapidated until it was restored in 2005 and turned into a museum. The work was done by Rayno Sciocatti who is a direct descendant of the silk spinners of Gouna
- Latitude, longitude: S33.969, E23.053
- San Ambroso Church Gouna state forest
