{"id":1045,"date":"2014-05-20T10:30:37","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T10:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2014-05-20T10:33:47","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T10:33:47","slug":"offida-and-pillow-lace-a-handcrafted-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/art-and-culture\/offida-and-pillow-lace-a-handcrafted-passion.html","title":{"rendered":"Offida and pillow lace: a handcrafted passion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The handcrafted production for which Offida is renowned is apparent upon arriving at the Largo delle Merlettaie<\/strong>, the entrance point to the town\u2019s historic centre, which hosts the bronze monument to the lacemakers of Offida<\/strong>. This monument features three women, representing the three ages of life (a child, a young woman and an old woman), in the act of working pillow lace, an ancient art with a great tradition in Offida going back more than five centuries<\/strong>. This craft involves weaving several threads together, using knots and stitches, until forming lace <\/strong>in various shapes and sizes, featuring different decorative motifs.<\/p>\n

In fact, books and paintings from the 16th century<\/strong> onwards document this ancient technique, and it is possible that both the Master of Offida and Simone de Magistris may have painted pillow lace made in Offida in some of their works. The art of pillow lace also spread from Offida to the nearby mountainous area of Appignano del Tronto, Castignano and Rotella, as young women who had been expert lacemakers since childhood moved from the town to these areas.<\/p>\n

The pillow lace technique <\/strong>involves the use of hard wood bobbins<\/strong>, moved around in pairs on a firm pillow<\/strong> (known as a \u201ctombolo<\/strong>\u201d in Italian) supported on a tripod, weaving the thread so as to follow the outline of the design being reproduced.<\/p>\n

In the centre of Offida, the Polo Museale Civico di Palazzo de Castelloti<\/strong> devotes an entire section to the technique and history of pillow lace. The five rooms of the Museo del Pillow lace<\/strong> display the finest pieces made using this ancient technique, used not only to create shawls and doilies, but also for dresses, covers, table cloths and altar decorations, wedding favours, trousseaus and other wedding accessories. This lace also has contemporary associations, as demonstrated by the dress \u2013 made entirely from pillow lace \u2013 designed by Antonio Bernardi, which is exhibited in the last room and was worn during a catwalk show by the model Naomi Campbell.<\/p>\n

The art of pillow lace<\/strong> is still very much alive in Offida and the surrounding area<\/strong>, handed down from mother to daughter. Upon leaving the museum, pillow lace appears again in the numerous artisanal workshops in the historic centre<\/strong>, which as well as exhibiting and selling lace, also display the tools used to create it and provide the chance to see lace makers at work.<\/p>\n

As well as the specialist pillow lace workshop<\/strong>s, Offida also offers the opportunity to visit other artisanal workshops<\/strong> devoted to the production of pottery <\/strong>and gold-work<\/strong>, often combining the latter craft with lacemaking to give rise to beautiful pillow lace creations worthy of being flaunted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travel tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Accommodation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Casa Carducci (B&B)<\/p>\n

Piazza Forlini, 4; 0736887132; casacarduccioffida@libero.it<\/a>; www.casacarduccioffida.eu<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eating out<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enoteca Regionale \u2013 Vinea<\/p>\n

Via Garibaldi, 75; 0736880005; info@vinea191.it<\/a>; www.vineamarche.it<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Il Nascondiglio di Bacco<\/p>\n

Contrada Ciafone, 97; 0736889537; www.vinoffida.it<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What to see<\/strong><\/p>\n

Polo museale civico Palazzo de Castellotti, Via Roma, 17<\/p>\n

October – May \u00a0 \u00a010 am\u201312.30 pm;3 pm\u20137 pm (Sat\u2013Sun and public holidays)<\/p>\n

June – September \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a010 am\u201312.30 pm; 3.30 pm\u20137.30 pm\u00a0(Mon\u2013Sun); 21\u201324 (Fri)<\/p>\n

Entrance fee \u00a0 \u20ac3.50 (full price); \u20ac 2.50 (reduced); \u20ac 5.00 (municipal museum network); \u20ac 10.00 (network ticket)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Teatro Serpente Aureo, Piazza del Popolo<\/p>\n

June – September & public holidays \u00a0 \u00a010 am\u201312.30 pm; 3.30 pm\u20137.30 pm (Mon\u2013Sun)<\/p>\n

October – May \u00a0 Reservations required<\/p>\n

Entrance fee \u00a0 \u00a0\u20ac 2.00<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Santa Maria della Rocca<\/p>\n

June – September & public holidays \u00a0 \u00a010 am\u201312.30 pm; 3.30 pm\u20137.30 pm (Mon\u2013Sun)<\/p>\n

October – May Reservations required<\/p>\n

Entrance fee \u20ac 2.00<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Museo “A. Sergiacomi”, Via Ischia, 24<\/p>\n

All year \u00a0 \u00a0Reservations required<\/p>\n

Entrance fee \u00a0 \u00a0Free<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Centro di Educazione Ambientale \u201cGiano\u201d, Via Roma 17<\/p>\n

0736888609; info.oikos@libero.it<\/a>;\u00a0www.museipiceni.it<\/a>\u00a0e www.ambiente.marche.it<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What to buy\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Azienda agricola Aurora \u2013 typical wines<\/p>\n

Contrada Ciafone, 98 \u2013 zona S. Carro; 0736810007; www.viniaurora.it<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Azienda agricola Ci\u00f9 Ci\u00f9 \u2013 typical wines<\/p>\n

Via Ciafone, 106; 0736 810001; info@ciuciu.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panificio Pandol \u2013 typical confectionery and pastries<\/p>\n

Via Giuseppe Ciabattoni, 16; 0736.889761<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maria Grazia Easterlini \u2013 pillow lace<\/p>\n

Viale della Repubblica, 77; 0736880200; info@pizziatombolo.it<\/a>;\u00a0www.pizziatombolo.it<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moretti Arturo \u2013 pottery<\/p>\n

Via Lava 145, 0736 889661<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

L\u2019Occhio di Horus, Gasparrini Marilina \u2013 goldsmith<\/p>\n

Via Valle 51, 0736 889854<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ciborghi<\/a><\/p>\n

11-20 July 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The handcrafted production for which Offida is renowned is apparent upon arriving at the Largo delle Merlettaie, the entrance point to the town\u2019s historic centre, which hosts the bronze monument to the lacemakers of Offida. This monument features three women, representing the three ages of life (a child, a young woman and an old woman), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youpiceno.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}