Close

Soapstone carving began in remote times. Pliny the Elder already mentions it in his Naturalis Historia, in relation to Valtellina. Hundreds of old soapstone quarries can be found In Valmalenco and Valchiavenna, two of which are still in operation. Studies on archaeological discoveries of soapstone artefacts show that the activity probably dates bac...

2958

Fabriano is one of the few cities in the world where paper is still being made by hand as a testament to the will not to lose its ties with a tradition that is hundreds of years old. The first paper in the West was created here thanks to the technological innovations that this area brought to the manufacture of this product.

2885

The historic textile tradition of Biella owes its development to the characteristics of the local area: its location in the foothills of the Alps favoured livestock breeding rather than extensive crop cultivation and so the use of sheep fleece to provide yarns and fabrics became established in the area.

2976

Ars Canusina art handicraft owes its origin in the 1930s to Maria Bertolani Del Rio, a psychiatrist at the San Lazzaro asylum in Reggio Emilia. In 1921 the “Antonio Marro” boarding school was established within the asylum, with therapeutic methods that included learning to make hand-crafted objects.

1943

  WTI Magazine #78    2016 April 15Author : UNIONCAMERE      Translation by:   One of the oldest congregations of shoemakers was founded in Venice in the 13th century. The Statute of the Congregation was reformed in 1268, the year used to calculate the duration of the Art of the Calegheri. The seal of the "Confraternita dei Calegheri" (Cobblers'...

1801

  WTI Magazine #80    2016 June 17Author : Unioncamere      Translation by:   The history of pontino precious metal work began in the fourth century B.C. and was initially distinguished by a certain austerity, then became an element of artistic expression with the advent of the Roman Empire and the annexing of much of the Hellenic world. The bea...

1367

  WTI Magazine #60    2015 May, 15Author : Unioncamere      Translation by:   The iron age came after the stone and bronze ages and dates back to 1000 BC. The use of iron spread more slowly, however, because it was only understood much later that the molten mass obtained in the first stone furnaces needed to be heated again to produce the pliabl...

1207

  WTI Magazine #79    2016 May 13Author : Unioncamere      Translation by:   The name velvet comes from the Latin "vellus", due to the characteristic dense pile on the right side of the fabric. Originally produced in the East, its use spread among the wealthier classes of the West in the 13th century. Velvet began to be produced in Italy in the...

974

WTI Magazine #58    2015 April, 17Author : Unioncamere      Translation by:   In the Oristano area, as in many Sardinian towns, the craft of weaving has always been the prerogative of women, at first mostly for domestic purposes and later as a business activity. The first type of production was mainly to provide for girls' dowries and was woven a...

1520

  WTI Magazine #84    2016 October 17Author : UNIONCAMERE      Translation by:   Textile weaving with vegetable fibres (especially silk) and wool has been a fundamentally important activity in the Piceno area for centuries. Almost all rural homes had at least one loom, around which the women would be engaged in spinning, warping, weaving, tailor...

983