artisans of umbria part 1
My friend Letizia Mattiacci and I created an Umbrian artisan workshop that was unforgettable.
Welcome to all of my new followers, both free and paid. Thank you for being here. We will be travelling to Italy shortly - we needed to postpone our trip due to that most annoying of reasons - car trouble. We’ll be travelling to our tiny house there, hopefully next week, with new wheels. While in Italy, I’ll be writing and recording about food, wine and culture primarily for my paid subscribers, with a post or two thrown in for everyone. I simply cannot wait to get back to Italy and feel the air in my face.
One of most magical places in Italy to find artisan treasures is in the central region of Umbria.
Surrounded by Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Le Marche on all sides, Umbria is quite agricultural but boasts many artisanal gems in its many small Medieval cities.
I became acquainted with Umbria through my friend Letizia Mattiacci, who had a beautiful agriturismo and cooking school directly outside of Assisi for many years with her husband Ruurd and daughter Tea. She now teaches her passion, regional Italian cooking, at her cooking school in Rome, Italy. I highly suggest booking a class with her if you are in Rome this coming season.
Letizia and I created an amazing workshop experience several years back, and she introduced to me the Umbria of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, so steeped in beauty and culture I never wanted to leave.
Directly near her home was the Woodlands of St Francis of Assisi, a park-like oasis with beautiful gardens, a chapel and the grounds and ruins where the first order of Franciscan nuns had their cloister.
It is a place of deep and abiding peace and was the first location to where I brought our participants and facilitated a guided meditation.
In the unassuming Umbrian village of Gualdo Tadino, Letizia introduced me an absolute master in the world of ceramics. In the 16th century, the Rubboli family invented a system of glazing which allowed gold, silver and copper to be transferred to pottery. This technique, now known as luster, is used throughout the world, including in my pottery studio. Maurizio Rubboli, who runs the museum and active ceramic studio, generously invited us to this magical place for a tour and lunch.
In the unforgettable Umbrian capital city of Perugia, there is so much to experience. The city is full of architectural treasures from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I’ve visited the city many times now, and it’s a place I feel completely at home. We took our participants to the master stained glass producer Studio Moretti Caselli, founded in 1858 and continues to operate, producing coloured glass masterpieces for private and public buildings. This gorgeous atelier houses all the original illustrations for the creation of glass windows since the studio opened.
The last artisan I’ll present today is one of Letizia’s and my favourite people and places: The Giuditta Brozetti Weaving Workshop and Museum, lovingly restored and run by the wonderful Marta Cuccia, who is a fourth generation weaver, impassioned designer and keeper of history. Under the leadership of its founder, the Giuditta Brozzetti Workshop emerged as a hub for traditional artistic textiles in Italy. Upon assuming control in 1957, Giuditta's daughter, Eleonora, expanded the business to include textiles tailored for fashion designers, achieving recognition with an award-winning model in Milan. Alongside Eleonora for many years was her daughter, Clara, who delved into historical and iconographic research, particularly on the Perugia Tablecloths, and contributed to authentic reproductions of these significant textiles.
In 1995, Clara's daughter, Marta, assumed leadership of the Giuditta Brozzetti Hand Weaving Workshop, marking the fourth generation's stewardship. Inspired by her mother's vision, Marta relocated the Workshop to the beautiful church of San Francesco delle Donne. Leveraging her background in interior design, Marta channels her creativity into crafting textiles for domestic spaces. Today, the workshop continues to evolve, blending traditional craftsmanship with innovative approaches in pursuit of contemporary solutions within the rich tapestry of Umbrian textile heritage.
With historic, manually powered looms, these intricate classical and contemporary woven pieces are made using ancient punch cards that inform the weft of the cloth how to arrange its openings so the warp threads are correctly placed for the designs.
The results are sublime.
I’ll continue on our tour of Umbrian artisans in another post, including ceramics we created at Letizia’s Agriturismo, and the amazing cooking class Letizia gave to our participants.
I hope this has made you curious about Italian artisans. The entire country is an absolute treasure trove of creativity and beauty…with many of the best places, such as these, not on the beaten path.
L'Italia è così bella.
What a gorgeous way to start my day— thanks for the luster, Medieval nuns, and those textiles. I am thrumming!!
ah Diana, wonderful, wonderful memories, that was truly a unique experience!