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  • PESARO, ITALIA - 30 settembre 2011: Liana, 31, participates at Miss Over, a beauty pageant for women over 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old in Pesaro, Italy.
    Perfect_33.jpg
  • TORRE DEL LAGO, ITALY - JULY 31, 2011: Magdalene Strass, 31, participates at the Miss Drag Queen Italy the contest, the only contest and festival for Drag Queens in Italy, in Torre del Lago. Torre del Lago is well known for being an important gay and gay-friendly summer resort of national and international appeal. It is considered the gay mecca of Italy. A drag queen is usually a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics (such as make-up and eyelashes) for comic, dramatic or satirical effect.
    Perfect_29.jpg
  • TORRE DEL LAGO, ITALY - JULY 31, 2011: Lazia Tiffany, 32, participates at the Miss Drag Queen Italy the contest, the only contest and festival for Drag Queens in Italy, in Torre del Lago. Torre del Lago is well known for being an important gay and gay-friendly summer resort of national and international appeal. It is considered the gay mecca of Italy. A drag queen is usually a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics (such as make-up and eyelashes) for comic, dramatic or satirical effect.
    Perfect_28.jpg
  • PESARO, ITALIA - 30 settembre 2011: Silvana, 72, participates at Miss Over, a beauty pageant for women over 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old in Pesaro, Italy.
    Perfect_36.jpg
  • PESARO, ITALIA - 30 settembre 2011: Jacqueline, 66,  participates at Miss Over, a beauty pageant for women over 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old in Pesaro, Italy.
    Perfect_34.jpg
  • PESARO, ITALIA - 30 settembre 2011: Alicja, 52, participates at Miss Over, a beauty pageant for women over 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old in Pesaro, Italy.
    Perfect_32.jpg
  • PESARO, ITALIA - 30 settembre 2011: Laura, 67 ,participates at Miss Over, a beauty pageant for women over 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old in Pesaro, Italy.
    Perfect_31.jpg
  • TORRE DEL LAGO, ITALY - JULY 31, 2011: Raven, 29, participates at the Miss Drag Queen Italy the contest, the only contest and festival for Drag Queens in Italy, in Torre del Lago. Torre del Lago is well known for being an important gay and gay-friendly summer resort of national and international appeal. It is considered the gay mecca of Italy. A drag queen is usually a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics (such as make-up and eyelashes) for comic, dramatic or satirical effect.
    Perfect_27.jpg
  • PESARO, ITALIA - 1 ottobre 2011: Romana, 53, participates at Miss Over, a beauty pageant for women over 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old in Pesaro, Italy.
    Perfect_35.jpg
  • TORRE DEL LAGO, ITALY - JULY 31, 2011: Lady Deliria, stage name for Daniele Gragnato, 21, participates at the Miss Drag Queen Italy and wins the contest, the only festival for Drag Queens in Italy, in Torre del Lago. Torre del Lago is well known for being an important gay and gay-friendly summer resort of national and international appeal. It is considered the gay mecca of Italy. A drag queen is usually a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics (such as make-up and eyelashes) for comic, dramatic or satirical effect.
    Perfect_30.jpg
  • TORRE DEL LAGO, ITALY - JULY 31, 2011: Kamilla Molinari, 32, participates at the Miss Drag Queen Italy the contest, the only contest and festival for Drag Queens in Italy, in Torre del Lago. Torre del Lago is well known for being an important gay and gay-friendly summer resort of national and international appeal. It is considered the gay mecca of Italy. A drag queen is usually a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics (such as make-up and eyelashes) for comic, dramatic or satirical effect.
    Perfect_26.jpg
  • TORRE DEL LAGO, ITALY - JULY 31, 2011: She Wulva, 29, participates at the Miss Drag Queen Italy the contest, the only contest and festival for Drag Queens in Italy, in Torre del Lago. Torre del Lago is well known for being an important gay and gay-friendly summer resort of national and international appeal. It is considered the gay mecca of Italy. A drag queen is usually a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics (such as make-up and eyelashes) for comic, dramatic or satirical effect.
    Perfect_25.jpg
  • Brancaccio, Palermo, Italy - 3 January, 2011: An advertising is placed at the entrance Brancaccio, a deteriorated district of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ### Brancaccio, Palermo - 3 gennaio 2011: Una pubblicità all'entrata di Brancaccio, un quartiere degradato di Palermo.
    CIPG_20120103_LE-MONDE_Carte-Blanche...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_70...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_69...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: A view of the interior of the Australian Pavillon with its partially removed roof and "Half moon shine" (2012)<br />
- mild steel (miniature)<br />
40 cm diameter - as seen from the lower level, at the Pavillon of Australia,  Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013:  Simryn Gill's "Let Go, Lets Go" (2013) - collage and ink on 12 paper and wood panels, each 120 x 280 cm, 144 books - at the Pavillon of Australia, at the Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: A view of the interior of the Australian Pavillon with its partially removed roof as seen from the upper level, at the Pavillon of Australia,  Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, steps out of an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_71...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, steps out of an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_71...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, steps out of an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_71...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, steps out of an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_71...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, wears a necklace with a Trinacria, the three-legged symbol of Sicily, during a portrait session in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_70...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, wears a necklace with a Trinacria, the three-legged symbol of Sicily, during a portrait session in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_70...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_70...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_70...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_69...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_69...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_69...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_69...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 31 MAY 2013: The eyes of a performer appear behind a small fake brick wall in Eva Kotatkova's "Asylum" (2013) - mixed media installation - at the exhibition "Il Palazzo Enciclopedico" (The Encyclopedic Palace) at the Central Pavillon at the Giardini of the Biennale in Venice, Italy, on May 31st 2013. <br />
<br />
The Exhibition Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace) will be laid out in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and in the Arsenale forming a single itinerary, with works spanning over the past century alongside several new commissions, including over 150 artists from 38 countries. Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace) investigates the desire to see and know everything: it is a show about obsessions and about the transformative power of the imagination. The exhibition opens in the Central Pavilion with a presentation of Carl Gustav Jung's Red Book.<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130531_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: Visitors at the Pavillon of Australia, Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013:  A view of the partially removed roof of the Australian pavillon as seen through a reflection at the Pavillon of Australia,  Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: A dry leaf fallen from the partially removed roof of the Australian Pavillon is here on the floor of the lower level, at the Pavillon of Australia,  Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: A view of the interior of the Australian Pavillon with its partially removed roof and "Half moon shine" (2012)<br />
- mild steel (miniature)<br />
40 cm diameter - as seen from the lower level, at the Pavillon of Australia,  Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: Visitor of the Pavillon of Australia look at artist Simryn Gill's "Let Go, Lets Go" (2013) - <br />
collage and ink on 12 paper and wood panels, each 120 x 280 cm, 144 books -<br />
, at the Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: A detail of artist Simryn Gill's "Let Go, Lets Go" (2013) - <br />
collage and ink on 12 paper and wood panels, each 120 x 280 cm, 144 books -<br />
 at the Pavillon of Australia, at the Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 26 FEBRUARY 2020: Piera Aiello (52), member of the lower house of the Italian parliament and police informant known for her stand against the Mafia, poses for a portrait in an office in Rome, Italy, on February 26th 2020.<br />
<br />
Born in a small town in Sicily, she was forced to marry the son of a local Mafia boss at the age of 18, and soon watched her husband be killed in front of her eyes. She then became a key figure in the fight against the Mafia, spending nearly three decades in hiding under a witness protection program, and helping the police track down dozens of mafiosi. In 2018, without ever having shown her face on television or in the media for fear of mafia retribution, she was elected to parliament.<br />
<br />
In 2019 she was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
    CIPG_20200226_NYT-Piera-Aiello_M3_70...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 31 MAY 2013: The eyes of a performer appear behind a small fake brick wall in Eva Kotatkova's "Asylum" (2013) - mixed media installation - at the exhibition "Il Palazzo Enciclopedico" (The Encyclopedic Palace) at the Central Pavillon at the Giardini of the Biennale in Venice, Italy, on May 31st 2013. <br />
<br />
The Exhibition Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace) will be laid out in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and in the Arsenale forming a single itinerary, with works spanning over the past century alongside several new commissions, including over 150 artists from 38 countries. Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace) investigates the desire to see and know everything: it is a show about obsessions and about the transformative power of the imagination. The exhibition opens in the Central Pavilion with a presentation of Carl Gustav Jung's Red Book.<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130531_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: A view of the interior of the Australian Pavillon with its partially removed roof as seen from the upper level, at the Pavillon of Australia,  Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 29 MAY 2013: Artist Simryn Gill speaks to the visitors of her "Here art grows on trees" exhibition at the Pavillon of Australia, at the Giardini of the Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on May 29th 20113. <br />
<br />
Gill works in the area of the ephemeral and the domestic, with its daily habits and repetitions in a lived social reality. The Australian Pavilion in the Venice Giardini della Biennale hosts Gill's site-specific project, a few months before the structure will be dismantled and discarded for a new pavilion. Simryn.  The upper floor holds the series of twelve large screens of collaged drawings, Let Go, Lets Go, and the lower section shows the series of mine photographs, Eyes and Storms, while the roof is partially removed, exposing both works in equal measure to the elements. During six months, from June to November 2013, what visitors will experience is a process of disintegration: the transformation of Gill's artwork by sunlight, rain and wind, by the birds and insects feeding on the paper featuring insects.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130529_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • VENICE, ITALY - 31 MAY 2013: Giulio Paolini's "Quadri di un'esposizione" (2013) - pencil drawing and various elements o the wall. opaque white base, Plexiglas case with engraved design, 36 Plexiglas plates - at the Italian Pavillon, at the Arsenale of the Biennale in Venice, Italy, on May 31st 2013.<br />
<br />
Quadri di un'esposizione, 2013, guides the viewer's eye through a trajectory that connects the<br />
dimension of reality to that of artifice and staging. Through the use of geometric<br />
perspective, Paolini manipulates the surface of the exhibition space, forcing its twodimensionality.<br />
The work, in its complexity, refers to a dimension to which the eye cannot<br />
appropriate, revealing the mechanisms that regulate perception. <br />
<br />
The Italian Pavilion presents vice versa, an ideal journey through Italian art of today,<br />
an itinerary that tells of identities, history and landscapes - real and imaginary - exploring the complexity and layers that characterize the country's artistic vicissitudes. The Italian Pavillon is curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi,<br />
who describes the exhibition as, ?A portrait of recent art, read as an atlas of themes and attitudes in dialogue with the historical legacy and current affairs, with both a local and international dimension. A cross-dialogue of correspondences, derivations and differences between acclaimed maestros and artists of later generations". The exhibition is divided into seven spaces - six rooms and a garden - that each house<br />
the work of two artists,<br />
who are brought together on the basis of the affinity of their<br />
respective poetics and common interests in themes, ideas and practices.<br />
<br />
The 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale takes place in Venice from June 1st to November 24th, 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale as well as in various venues the city. <br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York TImes
    CIPG_20130531_NYT_VeniceBiennale__MG...jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the Ermisino fabrics in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2435.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A reproduction of Leonardo Da Vinci's original design sketch of the machine that creates warp threads and that is still used here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most nob
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3764.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A reproduction of Leonardo Da Vinci's original design sketch of the machine that creates warp threads and that is still used here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most nob
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3682.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the Ermisino fabrics in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2473.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the Ermisino fabrics in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2453.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the Ermisino fabrics in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2455.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the Ermisino fabrics in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2417.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk warp yarns are seen here in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six mor
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5788.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silvania Marco Ribeiro, a weaver, works on the silk throwing process by a silk winding machine at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechan
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5645.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silvania Marco Ribeiro, a weaver, works on the silk throwing process by a silk winding machine at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechan
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5568.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018:  Wooden shuttles and silk threads are seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechanical looms, from the 1800s, that can produce 10
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5497.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Ermisino fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3985.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Rolls of silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3938.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A sofa and pillows made of silk fabrics are seen here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3922.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Samples of silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city�
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3902.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Rolls of Broccatello silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
Composed of linen and golden chenille, the Broccatello fabric is still made today with handlooms dating back to the Eighteenth century. Geometric designs are revealed in the Broccatelli collection, brocades which evoke three-dimensional shapes.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s si
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3868.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Rolls of silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3803.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Punched Jacquard cards are seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The pattern created in the Jacquard cards directs the weaver, and it can take 2000 cards to produce 1.6 meters of fabric.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of f
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3772.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: The machine made from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci, that creates warp threads, is seen here at work at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own loo
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3716.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Beatrice Fazzini, a weaver, is seen here at work on the machine, created from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci that creates warp threads, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3558.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Simona Polimeni, a weaver, looks for a broken warp on a semi-mechanical loom from the 1800s that can produce 10 meters daily, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2994.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A chain of punched Jacquard cards is seen here above a handloom from the 1700s at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The pattern created in the Jacquard cards directs the weaver, and it can take 2000 cards to produce 1.6 meters of fabric.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand loo
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2773.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Luana Segreto, a weaver, is seen here working on a handloom dating back to the 1700s that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; t
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2710.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Luana Segreto, a weaver, is seen here working on a handloom dating back to the 1700s that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; t
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2700.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Rows of hand looms, dating back to the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, are seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2534.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: The main entrance of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechanical looms, from the 1800s, that can produce 10 meters daily. The mill won’
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2493.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the hand looms from the 1700s at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeter
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2376.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Filippo Ricci,  creative director of the eponymous luxury company started by his father, Stefano Ricci, poses for a portrait by the hand looms from the 1700s at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill he owns in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeter
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2338.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Beatrice Fazzini, a weaver, is seen here at work on the machine, created from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci that creates warp threads, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5916.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018:  Wooden shuttles and silk threads are seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechanical looms, from the 1800s, that can produce 10
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5767.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk threads are seen here by the warp yarn in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joi
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5742.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silvania Marco Ribeiro, a weaver, works on the silk throwing process by a silk winding machine at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechan
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5691.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silvania Marco Ribeiro, a weaver, works on the silk throwing process by a silk winding machine at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechan
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5671.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk is reeled here by a  winding machine at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechanical looms, from the 1800s, that can produce 10 meter
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5617.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: The side entrance of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechanical looms, from the 1800s, that can produce 10 meters daily. The mill won’
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5428.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A Broccato fabric is seen here as it is being processed in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day;
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5376.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A view of a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, is seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern”
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5375.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Jacquard cards punch equpment is seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The pattern created in the Jacquard cards directs the weaver, and it can take 2000 cards to produce 1.6 meters of fabric.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeter
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5353.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Luana Segreto, a weaver, is seen here working on a handloom dating back to the 1700s that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; t
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5323.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Luana Segreto, a weaver, is seen here working on a handloom dating back to the 1700s that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; t
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5306.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk threads are seen here by the warp yarn in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joi
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5280.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk threads are seen here by the warp yarn in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joi
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5267.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Weft<br />
yarn wounds on bobbins (pirns) are seen here on a handloom, dating back to the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5213.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk warp yarns are seen here in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six mor
    SMAS_20181026_NYT_Silk_DSCF5206.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Silk worm cocoons are seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by six more “modern” semi-mechanical looms, from the 1800s, that can produce 10 meters daily. T
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_4008.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Ermisino fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3970.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Rolls of silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3945.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Samples of silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city�
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3899.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Rolls of Damask silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Damaschi collection is composed of single-colour damask fabrics with stylised or floral designs created in a shiny and low-lustre finish. It was first made in Florence on mechanical looms from the Nineteenth century predating the Jacquard loom. It has just one warp and one weft. The background is made with an eight-harness satin weave and the decorative motifs in reverse eight-harness satin.The Damaschi collection is composed of single-colour damask fabrics with stylised or floral designs created in a shiny and low-lustre finish.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as f
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3851.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Samples of silk fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city�
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3834.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Ermisino fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3795.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Ermisino fabrics are displayed here in the showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Ermisino is an icon fabric of the ancient silk factory, a special type of Renaissance shot taffeta made with threads of different colours, so as to have tones that are shimmering and fluid like a cascade of light. Woven in three classic weights (leggero, scempio and doppio), for centuries it was the distinctive mark of the most illustrious nobility.<br />
<br />
The showroom of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino displays  many of the 100 different kinds of fabric the mill can produce, with vignettes of them turned into pillows, sofas and curtains.<br />
<br />
Fabrics are priced accordingly, starting at about 200 euros a meter and going as high as 2000 euros a meter for lampasso, a special kind of damask so labor intensive to produce only 20 centimeters can be made a day. There are brocades, jacquards, damasks, shantung, satin, moire, rustic filaticcio and stiff, shimmering ermisino. The palette extends from pure “panna”, or cream, to delicate pastels and rich jewel tones, often shot with threads of gold or silver.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3791.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: The machine made from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci, that creates warp threads, is seen here at work at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own loo
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3711.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Beatrice Fazzini, a weaver, is seen here at work on the machine, created from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci that creates warp threads, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3689.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Beatrice Fazzini, a weaver, is seen here at work on the machine, created from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci that creates warp threads, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
 Da Vinci’s design allowed the artisans to stand while they oversaw the creation of the warp threads, instead of hunching over as with previous methods. For hundreds of years, this invention by Da Vinci has been hard at work helping generations of Florence’s weavers create the sumptuous fabrics for which they are renown.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3673.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Daniela Fallani, a weaver, is seen here working on a handloom dating back to the 1700s that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day;
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3232.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A weaver places weft<br />
yarn wound on a bobbin (pirn) into a wooden shuttle, as she works on a handloom dating back to the 1700s that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3227.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A Broccato fabric, processed in a handloom from the 1700s, that can produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day, is seen here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, an ancient silk mill in central Florence, Italy, on October 26th 2018.<br />
<br />
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is a silk mill, located in central Florence within view of the old city walls in the San Frediano neighborhood, that produces the kind of fabrics destined for city palaces and country estates. The mill was bought in 2010 by Stefano Ricci from the Pucci, with an eye to using it to produce fabrics for the launch of a new home collection<br />
<br />
Lined up in rows are the dozen looms that take the slender threads, by now dyed emerald and ruby and sapphire, and weave them into the textiles that form a part of the fabric of Florentine life.<br />
<br />
Silk was made in the city as far back as the 1300s, a commodity to trade for precious materials. In more recent times, the fabric in the gowns in “Il Gattopardo” and “Death in Venice” came from the mill, as did much of Maris Callas’ wardrobe, robes for Popes, suits for Andre Bocelli, and Nelson Mandela’s silk shirts (when he wore one for his audience with Queen Elizabeth II she reportedly remarked, “that’s a beautiful shirt.”) The carmine red curtains at the Villa Medici and the Tribune of the Uffizi were made here. The Presidential Suite at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel is decked out in the mill’s output, as are the walls of the room of the Czars at the Kremlin, and more than 100 red velvet chairs emblazoned with the Kremlin’s golden crest.<br />
<br />
Back hundreds of years ago, in the Renaissance, most noble families had their own looms. But in 1786 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany took all the looms of the private aristocratic families and put them in one place. They ended up at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino: six of them from the 1700s, hand looms that produce a mere 40 centimeters of fabric a day; they are joined by
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3223.jpg
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