Italy Textile Tour, Anghieri and Perugia

The next morning, we left our temporary home in Florence, to visit Anghieri on the way to Perugia.  Photos for these three days are here.

View from the private living quarters upstairs from Busatti's.

Anghieri is a hilltop town that's listed as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy.   Leonardo Da Vinci painted a commission here, to commemorate the Battle of Anghieri, but the fresco was lost; it's rumored to exist under another painting. We weren't able to get in to see the painting that may or may not be covering Da Vinci's work; they were closed while we were there, but we were able spend an amiable half an hour wandering through the small medieval streets before our appointment at Bussati.

Want...

Bussati's history is on their website and worth reading; it's interesting how they've adapted to their changing customer base over the last 8 generations, encompassing 2 world wars, and changing political and economic climates. Currently they have a lovely premium weaving operation, partly in the basement of the old Palazzo and partly at a nearby manufacturing facility. They make fabrics and housewares, primarily in cotton and linen, in historic, traditional, and modern patterns, some with exquisitely hand crocheted or pulled work borders. The showroom is astounding, and anything you see can be made to order in a large range of colors, and relatively any size. I was eyeing this historical textile, in a different color, for a table cloth...  We toured the basement weaving room, filled with assorted equipment including a wool picking machine, but mostly automated jacquard looms, controlled by the ever-present punched cards. Giovanni, the patriarch of the family fired up a selection of looms to show us; it was Saturday, so the plant was not in operation, but he wanted us to see the machines working. You could see his love for and pride in his family business shining in his eyes as he answered questions about the looms, the family, and the business.  After the tour, Giovanni and his son Livio showed us around the private living quarters of the old Palazzo, where generations of his family have lived, with a stunning view of the city walls and valley beyond; showed us ancient family business journals supporting their pedigree in the textile realm; and treated us to some homemade Vin Santo and biscotti. After the tour, we walked to an excellent eatery and shared salads, pastas, and pizza.  After eating too much at lunch, I was forced to choose between returning to Bussati's to procure some table runners, or poke around the beautiful town. In all fairness, the rest of the group was ready to leave, so it was just me itching to walk to the top of the hill, and ramble in search of arrow slits and city walls, so I reluctantly climbed on the bus and we left for Perugia, assuming I would find something as delightful and lovely there.

After we checked into the recently remodeled Locanda Della Posta hotel in the old town of Perugia, I immediately went outside to check out the street fair going on. There were booths selling all manners of arts and crafts, and people in medieval costumes demonstrating medieval crafts. Check out this wonderful woman spinning wool on her drop spindle! Then I heard drums...
Linn and Eleanor and I followed. After some time and a lot of yelling, posturing, and other shows of testosterone, heralds came out blowing horns, and official looking medieval guys came out followed by men with flags; the flag bearers then started waving the flags and throwing them high into the air, and catching them. It was just like the videos I've seen of the festival in Sienna that accompanies the horse race; or that scene in Under the Tuscan Sun. It was pure magic. 

In 2016, Perugia began a medieval festival to celebrate an event that happened in 1416. Considering they've only been doing it for three years, it's remarkably well organized and staffed with costumed volunteers. After a couple of glasses of Rosso di Montefalco at a local wine bar, I asked one of the minstrels if I could look at the fabric of his jacket; he told me his girlfriend's mother had made it for him out of fabric a friend of hers had woven; it was a beautiful textures fabric, exquisitely sewn with novel detail, like the split sleeves.  I imagine the seamstress hearing how foreign women had stopped to admire her handiwork, and being pleased with herself.

What a treat it was to see the festival! It continued on the following day, and some of us attended some of the events, but I'll go back to what was on the tour agenda.

Three brief words on my hotel: Fashion over Function. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, newly renovated, and in a great location. But in my ideal world, Function and Fashion are inseparable soulmates.

This attempt at restoration failed three times before
they had a priest come bless the process

The next morning, we met Giorgio of Studio Moretti Caselli at the Perugia Cathedral for a quick tour before mass; the Studio had restored several of the windows in the cathedral. After leaving the cathedral, we took a detour by Pasticceria Sandri on the way to meet Giorgio and his wife Anna at their studio; definitely worth a stop if you're in the area. I had one of those tasty little rice pudding like pastries that was a joy to eat in the morning, and a coffee. At Studio Moretti Caselli, we learned about the process of painting images on glass; the technique fell into disuse at one time and was re-discovered by the founders of the studio in the mid 1800's. Basically, they start with purified ground glass; mix in a pigment, then fire it just enough to melt the glass but not enough to alter the pigment; they paint and re-fire the glass many times (I think the number 50 was mentioned) until they get the effect they're looking for.  The lead grout is routed to add strength (obviously) and also to enhance the image. The building is a 15th century Baglioni family residence (the rest of the Baglioni family buildings were destroyed after an unsuccessful fight with the Pope and the Rocca Paolina, a massive fortress to force Perugia to behave itself was built in its place; you can still walk through the basements of the Rocca Paolina which stood for very few decades before destroyed by a rebellion). A couple of the rooms still have the original frescoes and period furnishings.  Aside from restorations, Studio Moretti Caselli does some stunning original works; they glow in a way that I can't describe, you really need to see them. After the Studio tour, we walked a short distance to the Basilica di San Domenico, and viewed more of their restoration work. 

Next up was lunch; because of the festival, several restaurants were serving medieval menus. Starting with cured meats, cheeses, and olives, the meal progressed to zuppa di fave e piselli  (fava and pea soup), then cinghiale alle olive (boar stew with olives) and fegatelli all'alloro (something made of pork liver, roasted, and put on a stick). (Thank you Sarah for the picture of the menu!) It was really tasty, and I've actively lost in recipe translations!

After lunch, some of us went to archeology museum, located in the old Convent of San Domenico. They have an amazing collection of Etruscan artifacts, especially from the old cemeteries of Perugia, and a stellar view of the Etruscan city walls; also some partial Roman era mosaic floors. After the afternoon gelato, we returned to the area around the hotel to observe more of the festival.

I can't resist a mosaic floor.. this fragment made me happy.

A question about Italian gelato: how do they get the fruit flavors to be so intense? One of the answers is that gelato is normally not as cold as American ice cream, so it's easier for your non-frozen taste buds to pick up on the flavor. But that's not the only thing. We spent a fair amount of time pondering this, without coming to any conclusions.

On our last day in Perugia, we visited Giuditta Brozetti, an old church now being used as a production hand weaving workshop. Marta, the owner and head weaver, told us the story of the building, Umbrian textiles, and the hand weaving company founded by her grandmother that Marta still runs.  Marta had just received a special award: Maestro d'Arte e Mestiere, which she explained as a big honor akin to being a white rhino...  She was referring to herself as being one of the last of her breed, but I didn't understand the implications of the award until I researched it later. This effectively designates her as a Living National Treasure, comparable to Japan's Preservers of Important Intangible Cultural Properties. It's a pure delight to find this type of designation in a country other than Japan (Italy also recognizes artisans in the areas of food and wine, which speaks to it's cultural importance), and a pure honor to have spent time with Marta. 

This old church feels like a sacred space honoring millennium of weaving and I was struck dumb with reverence watching Marta as she glowed with passion for her craft.

Marta showed us the traditional four shaft loom that women

worked on in their farmhouses, and some of the traditional local patterns,  then showed us the exact same patterns in paintings dating back to the Renaissance. She's woven textiles to reproduce some of the textiles depicted in those paintings. She described to us how the intricately patterned cloth was made in the Renaissance (too long to type here, ask me if you're interested) then how it's made on jacquard looms.  We then looked at the old jacquard looms, all hand operated (with two flying shuttles!); the hand operated card punches, the warping mill, the hand cranked bobbin winders... 

Marta, however, faces the same problem I've heard from artisans on three continents so far; how to keep the traditions alive while adapting to modern sensibilities and modern markets, while competing with inexpensive goods and dealing with shrinking sources of raw materials. I'm sensing this is a world wide trend.

After lunch, I wandered some of the back alleys of the city, looking for an Etruscan well (it was locked up on Monday afternoons); I walked to the top of the city walls, and looked out over the plains, trying to get my mind to settle, then went to see the Etruscan arch, one of the old city gates. I visited the Galleria Nazionalle of Umbria, which had a large collection of ecclesiastic art and a few very old textile fragments, similar to what Marta had woven. 

That night, we met up as a group for our final dinner, and made plans to return to Florence by train the next morning.

Kudos to Sarah and Simon for a phenomenal tour! I had frankly worried that nothing could live up to the tour I did of Kyoto last year, but honestly this did. I give it an A+, all thumbs up. The agenda was well thought out and we had access to an amazing and varied set of artisans of a caliber you don't often meet.  There was enough downtime to sit and mull over what we'd seen, or sight see and shop, if that's what we wanted. They gave us maps in each location, personalized for us, showing major sights, artisans, friendly restaurants, ATMs, and so on. My only complaint? TOO MUCH FOOD!!! But I can hardly blame the Tour Studio for that.  If you are reading this and thinking of booking a tour with them, and I can answer any questions, please comment on this blog and I'll be happy to respond.

And thanks to my new friends Gretchen, Eileen, Eleanor and Linn for being so kind to adopt me into their tribe. These are women I'd happily tour with again. Hoping it may happen someday!