L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano T he hilltop city of Pe- rugia is known for its artistic and cultural heritage, from the Na- tional Gallery of Um- bria to the Umbria Jazz festival. Today, two family-run studios in the city's historic center are doing their part to preserve traditional arts that are fast disappearing. Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti specializes in distinctive hand-wo- ven textiles; Studio Moretti Caselli is devoted to painted and baked stained glass windows. Both are committed to using authentic tech- niques and preserving traditional designs, while integrating new technologies and processes. Giuditta Brozzetti Just walking into the Brozzetti workshop is worth the trip. The studio is located in the deconse- crated Romanesque church of San Francesco delle Donne, built in 1212. At one point a convent and then a school for girls, it's the old- est Franciscan church in Perugia. RITA CIPALLA Two family workshops in Perugia breathe new life into heritage arts Once the glass is selected, the cut- ting process begins. Colors are chosen based on the light and the setting of the final piece. Moretti died in 1917 and Caselli in 1922. After Caselli's death, two of his five daughters, Rosa and Cecilia, continued the family tradition. The daughters were incredibly talented and took on many large commissions. One of their most famous works is the stained glass recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, "The Last Supper," created for the great mausoleum at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Calif. The project was inspired by a 1924 trip to Italy taken by Forest Lawn founder Hubert Eaton, where he viewed Leonardo's badly damaged painting. Con- cerned that the masterpiece was going to be lost forever, he got the idea to recreate it in stained glass. In Assisi, he heard about the work of Moretti Caselli. He met with Rosa and offered her the commis- sion. The project took nearly seven years to complete, three years longer than Leonardo's original work. Measuring 30 feet long and 15 feet high, the stained glass in- stallation is not just an artistic ac- complishment but an engineering feat as well. It was unveiled at Forest Lawn in 1931. On a visit to the Moretti Caselli studio today, you may be greeted by Giorgio and Anna, who have passed the art on to their daughters Elisabetta and Maddalena. The tour includes the workshop area with its paints, kilns and tools. You'll view samples of past com- missions, including the magnifi- cent glass portrait of Queen Margherita. Created by Francesco Moretti to demonstrate the poten- tial of stained glass, the portrait combines light and color in such a way you'll swear you are look- ing at a detailed oil painting and not a work executed in glass. The studio also carries out stained glass restorations, employ- ing modern technologies when needed. Every phase of the restoration process requires in- depth research to allow the splen- dor of the original work to come to life. Both studios are open to the public. Giuditta Brozzetti is open Mondays through Fridays. Moretti Caselli is open for limited hours Tuesdays and Thursdays, by ap- pointment on other days. Giuditta Brozzetti, Via Tiberio Berardi 5/6, Perugia: www. brozzetti.com Moretti-Caselli, Via Fatebene- fratelli 2, Perugia: www.stu- diomoretticaselli.it Under its magnificent vaulted ceilings sit wooden 18th- and 19th-century pedal looms, clicking and clacking for hours each day to create luxurious textiles in cot- ton, linen, cashmere and silk. The intricate patterns are hand-woven, using authentic designs from the medieval and Renaissance periods that incorporate Perugia's city symbol, the griffin, along with birds, pomegranates, unicorns and floral motifs. The looms turn out an array of stunning artistic textile products from tapestries and table- cloths to window treatments and bedspreads. The studio was founded in 1921 by Giuditta Brozzetti, who was inspired by the rural Umbrian women she had seen weaving fab- rics in the home, creating their own personal designs—handwork that grew out of necessity, not as a hobby. The studio she estab- lished has been dedicated to pro- ducing high-quality traditional Umbrian textiles ever since. Brozzetti passed the art along through the women in her family, with each new generation adding her own personal style. As the 20th century came to a close, it became increasingly dif- ficult to produce these labor-in- tensive textiles and in 1993, the studio shut its doors. At that time, Giuditta's great-granddaughter Marta Cucchia was a student in Milan. Cucchia returned home to Perugia, learned the art and re- opened the Brozzetti workshop in 1995, moving it to its present lo- cation the following year. "You have to love it," said Cucchia. "It has to be your passion." Today, the Brozzetti workshop is one of the few remaining studios in Italy that use antique jacquard frames. Despite its international reputation, the future of the work- shop remains uncertain. "When my great-grandmother had the stu- dio, there were 35 workers," said Cucchia. "I have three helpers to- day. In Italy, as elsewhere, it's in- credibly hard to make a living as an artist." Moretti Caselli Studio Moretti Caselli is a fifth-generation family-run busi- ness that, like Giuditta Brozzetti, has been passed down from mother to daughter. Hidden on a quiet street, the workshop is in a 15th- century residence that once belonged to Perugia's powerful Baglioni family. As with the Brozzetti space, the Moretti Caselli studio is like a museum, filled with antique furniture, mu- sical instruments, paintings, even a suit of armor. The studio was founded in 1859 by Francesco Moretti, as- sisted by his nephew Ludovico Caselli. The pair became famous for the stained-glass windows cre- ated for the cathedrals of Perugia and Orvieto and for the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in As- sisi. "Francesco Moretti studied both art and science, particularly chemistry, to make the glass," said Giorgio Panduri, whose wife Anna Falsettini is a direct descen- dent of the family. "He was de- termined to elevate stained glass to a real art and not just a craft." The process begins with initial sketches of the design, which are transferred into life-size drawings. LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS Master weaver Marta Cucchia brings her artistic talents to her family's workshop in Perugia, known as Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti. (Dale Smith)

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