On 26 July 1790, approximately 500 silk weavers stormed the city of Como in what had previously been dismissed as a mere food riot. Drawing from the weavers’ own accounts, this essay proposes an alternative interpre- tation of the events that places the uprising within a long history of labour conflicts, both preceding and following the incident. Specifically, the author analyses the tumult as a critical juncture in a complex negotiation mechanism between work quantity and product quality that emerged in silk manufac- turing after the abolition of the guild system. This analysis casts new light on certain practices by the silk workers, which, although previously disqualified as being dysfunctional to the manufacturing order, are revealed as practical and situated knowledge responding to the work contingencies of the historical moment.