![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/martas-weaving-museum.jpg\")
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While very few of the actual textiles from this period have survived, they are well documented in the paintings by famous artists of the period, such as Giotto, Ghirlandaio, and da Vinci.\u00a0 Over time, due to wars and economic situations, this tradition became less and less prominent.\u00a0 By the 16th c. very few weavers were making these textiles.\u00a0 Weaving survived in the homes of women in hill country of Umbria, outside Perugia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early 20th c. a wealthy Perugian woman, Giuditta Brozzetti, decided to start a business rekindling this tradition.\u00a0 She collected 18th and 19th c. manual Jacquard looms, which could be “programmed” to weave quite complex patterns.\u00a0 She gathered information about the traditional\u00a0patterns that the women of the Middle Ages had woven. She hired local women who had a background in these traditional patterns and taught them how to use the more modern looms. Four generations later, her great granddaughter, Marta Cucchia, is continuing this business.\u00a0 Marta is the first of the women in this family to be a weaver herself.\u00a0 She understands the various jacquard looms, which are all quite different and challenging to use.\u00a0 She has studied the medieval patterns and translated them to the punch cards that are used by jacquard looms.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0Her most challenging study was to decipher the patterns that Leonardo da Vince depicted in his fresco “The Last Supper.”\u00a0 That tablecloth is quite elaborate; even the white background fabric is heavily patterned.\u00a0 Marta has also documented many fabrics depicted by other artists who painted images of the Madonna and Child.\u00a0 The infant Jesus was often shown wrapped in a traditional\u00a0Perugian woven textile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently I was asked to write something about the weaving museum and workshop in Perugia that I have now visited twice. It needed to be just enough info and images to be made into a poster. Here it is, mostly because I want to remember what I wrote. A most unusual tradition in Perugia during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-craft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7799,"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792\/revisions\/7799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In 1995 Marta moved the workshop\/museum to a 12th c church outside the medieval walls of Perugia.\u00a0 This building was the first church built for St. Francis of Assissi.\u00a0 Over the years other, larger churches were built in St. Francis’ honor, including the enormous cathedral in nearby Orvieto.\u00a0 The little chapel in Perugia was sold to the Benedictines early in its history and used as a convent. During the 19th c it was used briefly as a spinning mill.\u00a0 It is a glorious environment to house the antique “modern” looms that now weave the traditional fabrics of Perugia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The motto for the city of Pergia is “Per Aspera ad Astra,”\u00a0 literally “from hope to the stars.”\u00a0 Perugia suffered many setbacks\u00a0during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and this motto demonstrates the Perugians’ endurance and creativity.
More info check out the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n