THE WEAVING ART IN PERUGIA

Marta, weaver

Welcome to my atelier in the heart of Perugia! It will be a pleasure to host you in my atelier, the former Church of San Francesco delle Donne, a deconsecrated building that in 1200AD was the first Franciscan church in Perugia. Since 1996, the hand-weaving workshop of Giuditta Brozzetti—my great-grandmother and founder of the atelier—has been based in these magnificent premises, and today it is one of the last places in Italy to practice hand-weaving. I will tell you the history of the workshop, started in 1921 with the intuition of Giuditta who recovered traditional motifs and designs from the Umbrian territory and founded the workshop-school for the production of high quality artistic fabrics for home furnishings. Millennial techniques and ancient production phases are still used today to create incredibly contemporary fabrics of historical inspiration. I will show you our artistic production that has been hand-woven in linen, cotton, silk, cashmere blend and gold and silver laminate on antique eighteenth-century pedal looms and nineteenth-century Jacquard looms. You will understand the functioning of our imposing Jacquard looms and of my beloved original loom of the 1700s, with which I still make copies of the fabrics found in the frescoes by Pinturicchio, Giotto, and Luca Signorelli, but also the initial phase of the work process: the preparation of the warp and weft, set up with a machine that was modified by Leonardo da Vinci, according to a system that is more than 500 years old! After discovering the secrets of production, you will test yourself under my guide, creating a decorative tassel made with the yarns I use for my production, which you can take home with you as a souvenir of the experience!

PERUGIA, Pg

MANUAL SKILLS AND ANCIENT TECHNIQUES

Maria Josè, restorer

Do you want to learn the techniques of the XVI century knowledge? We'll show you and tell you our manual skills in restoration, in faithful reproduction of vintage furniture, in cabinetmaking, in painting and gilding. We'll re-experience emotions, the study, the passion in doing the faithful reproduction of the “Studiolo del Duca di Montefeltro”, of which the original is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. We'll have lunch together in a typical restaurant of Gubbio. Later we'll take the cable car (“Funivia Colle Eletto”), to go to the Saint Ubaldo Cathedral, dwelling of our Patron Saint. Here we'll admire the “Ceri”, which are the icon and strength of the city. You'll get to know the history of them and of other artworks through the restoration.

GUBBIO, Pg

FIRST STEPS TOWARD MINIATURE

Anna, miniature and typography

In the wake of ancient amanuensis, the gestures of calligraphers and miniaturists are living again. In the XIII century they gave life to flourishing and eminent “Scriptorum” in Gubbio. It stands out the figure of Oderisi, narrated by Dante in The Divine Comedy, XI Canto of Purgatory: “non se tu Oderisi, l'onor d'Agobbio e l'onor di quell'arte ch'alluminar chiamata è in Parisi?”. A fascinating art, made of pigments and gold leaves, goose feathers and nibs, inks and a lot of patience and knowledge. The final result though, is unique, and what you bring back home with you is such a precious and original object.

GUBBIO, Pg