From House To Home

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For lace lovers, these Abruzzese beauties are at once something old and something new.

Trousseaus and lace are practically a cliche. Those who’d like to have something distinctive for their master bedroom might consider the merletto of Pescocostanzo, a medieval village in Italy’s Abruzzese highlands where an ancient lacework tradition is enjoying a renaissance.

A little more than 100 miles from Rome, Pescocostanzo is a pleasant walking town with a storied artistic past. In the Middle Ages the commercial center for wool bound for Lombardia and Tuscany, it was once the center of Abruzzo and a wealthy region in which the arts thrived. Among those arts was a distinctive style of lacework, or merletto, called fuselli su tombolo, the tombolo being a cylinder of wood from which dangled small rods, or fuselli, that guided the cotton or linen threads.

Nimbly working the tombolo was a skill centuries ago shared by all the women of the town, from small girls to bent grandmothers. Much of their merletto design was an homage to another of the town’s artistic traditions—that of master stonework. Many of the classic lace patterns, therefore, are called “Pizzi Portone,” inspired by the elaborate stone gates and portals readily visible in Pescocostanzo’s Renaissance architecture.

Thanks largely to the efforts of the Scuola Comunale di Merletto a Tombolo, skilled practitioners once again can be found all over town, a kind of lacework community threaded together by common pride and training in the centuries-old practice of merletto a tombolo. Front and center in Pescocostanzo’s absurdly picturesque main square, the Scuola doubles as a museum, where one can linger before displays of intricate lace from the 16th and 17th centuries, or study the ancient instruments of seasoned olive and pear wood on which engaged girls once worked their pillow designs.

Today, lace-making is enjoying a revival among young women who hope to make a living while remaining in the village of their birth. Children often begin their lace training at six or seven, attending class twice a week to learn the ancient art. One can order lace from one of the many women who make it here, among them Maria Concetta Colangelo, who operates her Mostra di Merletti from her home (Via Vittoria Colonna, tel. (39) 0864/641282). Should you visit, expect other matrons from the village to gather ‘round and give their two cents about your selections, butdon’t expect them to do it in English.

Items for the bedroom include bed linens, runners, and doilies; and covers for cushions, night tables, and chair arms. There are shapes and sizes to suit all kinds of furniture and patterns to suit all kinds of tastes: flower petals so dense and lush they’re almost three-dimensional, sunbursts so delicate they appear almost frayed at the ends like spider webs. Among the popular designs for newlyweds, says Ms. Colangelo, are “Il Nodo d’Amore” (the Love Knot), a design applied to corners and centers of bed linens and pillowcases; and the eagle, a symbol of power and prestige dating from the 1600s and popular among families wishing to make a statement. Other distinctive designs include “La Bambola,” a repeating image of a doll not unlike paper doll cut-outs; and doves in flight—particularly appropriate for a wedding trousseau.

The time required to create this lace rules out any possibility of mass production. For the same reason, borders and appliques might be a good bet for anyone interested in owning a piece of history, but less interested in becoming part of history while waiting for it to arrive.

For more information, contact the Abruzzese tourist office or the Scuola di Merletto a Tombolo, Palazzo Fanzago, Piazza Municipio 67033, Pescocostanzo; telephone: (39) 0864-640003, 640004; fax: (39) 0864-640005. |