Gianni Cipriano Photography | Archive

  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area
  • About
  • Contact
  • PORTFOLIO
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
x

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
Next
646 images found
twitterlinkedinfacebook

Loading ()...

  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, prays at dawn at the  Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, prays at dawn at the  Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1098.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: A man walks by the wall of the Medina quarter in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 54, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1142.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, prays at dawn at the  Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, prays at dawn at the  Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1098.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: A man walks by the wall of the Medina quarter in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 54, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1142.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_2435.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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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:  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: 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
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Abdulhamid Alwini, 57, drives his lifetime friend Said Ferjani around his hometown Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1157.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, is invited by the Abdulhamid Alwini's family in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. Said Ferjani and Abdulhamid Alwini (not in picture) have been friends since elementary school, and haven't seen each other for 22 years when Said flew the country. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1093.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, in Sousse, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1518.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, looks at what remains of his father's house who died in 2006 in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjan's father died in Kairouan 2006 while Said was in exile in the UK since 1989. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1311.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, walks in the Negra mosque (under renovation) where he started his activism when he was 16 years old, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1214.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, is photographed at the Nahda headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_0964.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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 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”
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3211.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_3159.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018:  A wooden shuttle with a weft<br />
yarn wound on a bobbin (pirn) is seen here on fabric processed by  a handloom dating back to the 1700s, 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
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3091.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
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2893.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
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2887.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_2341.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
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, in Sousse, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1536.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (left), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his former high school professor Sheilkh Abdulwahab, 80, who joined the Nahda movement and was jailed under Ben Ali's regime, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1431.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, meets his lifetime friends at the Cafe de Paris in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1389.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, hugs a friend he hasn't seen during his 22 years exile in front of his father's house who died in 2006 in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjan's father died in Kairouan 2006 while Said was in exile in the UK since 1989. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1346.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, looks at what remains of his father's house who died in 2006 in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjan's father died in Kairouan 2006 while Said was in exile in the UK since 1989. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1311.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, opens the door of the abandoned father's house in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011.  Said Ferjan's father died in Kairouan 2006 while Said was in exile in the UK since 1989. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1309.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, walks out of the Negra mosque where he started his activism when he was 16 years old, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Time
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1250.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, walks in the Negra mosque (under renovation) where he started his activism when he was 16 years old, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1206.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: A Nahda party banner for the Tunisian Constituent Assemby is placed aboce the Medina wall in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1146.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, walks after the dawn prayer in the streets of his hometown Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1120.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (left), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his lifetime friend of the Negra mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1075.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (left), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his lifetime friend of the Negra mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1053.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (center), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his lifetime friend of the Negra mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1041.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (second from right), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, meets his lifetime friends of the Negra mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1015.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: A sign on the highway indicates the exit for Kairouan, the hometown of Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, nearby Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1000.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, in Sousse, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1528.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, in Sousse, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1514.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (left), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his former high school professor Sheilkh Abdulwahab, 80, who joined the Nahda movement and was jailed under Ben Ali's regime, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1466.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Sheilkh Abdulwahab, 80, was Said Ferjani's former high school professor who later joined the Nahda movement and was jailed under Ben Ali's regime, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1427.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (left), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his former high school professor Sheilkh Abdulwahab, 80, who joined the Nahda movement and was jailed under Ben Ali's regime, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1415.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: ,  in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1391.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, meets his lifetime friends at the Cafe de Paris in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1389.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Street life in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1378.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, hugs a friend he hasn't seen during his 22 years exile in front of his father's house who died in 2006 in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjan's father died in Kairouan 2006 while Said was in exile in the UK since 1989. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1346.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: The secondary school of Said Ferjani is located in the outskirts of Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1282.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: A young man walk in the degraded outskirts of Saud Ferjani's hometow Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1274.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, walks in the Negra mosque (under renovation) where he started his activism when he was 16 years old, in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1206.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, walks after the dawn prayer in the streets of his hometown Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111218_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1120.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, is invited by the Abdulhamid Alwini's family in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. Said Ferjani and Abdulhamid Alwini (not in picture) have been friends since elementary school, and haven't seen each other for 22 years when Said flew the country. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1088.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (right), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, discusses with his lifetime friend of the Negra mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1027.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani (second from right), 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, meets his lifetime friends of the Negra mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1015.jpg
  • Kairouan, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: A sign on the highway indicates the exit for Kairouan, the hometown of Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, nearby Kairouan, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_1000.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 74, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, is photographed at the Nahda headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_0984.jpg
  • Tunis, Tunisia - 17 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, is photographed at the Nahda headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia on 17 December, 2011. In the 24 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first elections since the Tunisian Revolution, the party won 40% of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats, far more than any other party. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
<br />
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times
    CIPG_20111217_NYT_Ferjani__MG_0928.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 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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
  • 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
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3219.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: A  punched Jacquard cards is seen here together with a customer order on 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
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_3204.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_3150.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_3138.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_3083.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 semi-mechanical loom from the 1800s that can produce 10 meters daily, is seen here at work 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-mechanic
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2981.jpg
  • FLORENCE, ITALY - 26 OCTOBER 2018: Simona Polimeni, a weaver, mends 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 by s
    CIPG_20181026_NYT_Silk_M3_2965.jpg
Next