L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 L'Italo-Americano c e n t u r i e s , p a t t e r n s w e r e being codified: collectors photographed designs, and administrators encouraged consistent production for wider markets. After the Sec- ond World War, the danger shifted as cheap imports and changing tastes threatened t o m a r g i n a l i z e t h e c r a f t . Museums, fairs, and training programs helped it survive, a n d t h e r i s e o f c u l t u r a l tourism gave new reasons to keep looms in motion. For buyers today, a few pointers help separate hand- work from industrial look- alikes. For instance, pibiones relief has a particular densi- ty: the dots stand proud but show slight, natural irregu- larities from being wrapped b y h a n d . A j a c q u a r d m a y mimic the look from afar but f e e l s s m o o t h e r a n d m o r e uniform to the touch. Provenance matters too. C o o p e r a t i v e m a r k s a n d w o r k s h o p n a m e s p r o v i d e accountability, and curated fairs bring together makers with proven consistency. A good rug or bedspread will usually be sold with advice on cleaning and rotation, and buying directly allows for adjustments of size or pattern within the maker's repertoire, continuing the tradition of adapting pieces t o a c l i e n t ' s n e e d s . W h a t rises on a loom in Samugheo today is not a static design g r a p h i c m u s e u m i n Aggius displays hand-woven rugs and demonstrates the l o o m s a n d f i n i s h i n g t h a t define the local style. Nule, i n t h e G o c e a n o a r e a , i s known for bold graphic rugs produced on vertical looms w h o s e s t u r d y s t r u c t u r e makes them last for decades. On the eastern side of the island, the Su Marmuri Cooperative in Ulassai has been active since the early 1970s, in demonstration of how shared organization can keep workshops viable and even open the door to con- t e m p o r a r y c o m m i s s i o n s . Each August, Mogoro hosts a craft fair that gathers makers from across Sardinia, giving visitors the rare chance to c o m p a r e t e c h n i q u e s a n d prices in a single stop. Taken together, these towns form a working map: Samugheo for depth, Aggius and Nule for d i s t i n c t l o c a l i d e n t i t i e s , Ulassai for cooperative con- tinuity, Mogoro for an annu- al overview. Let's remember, though, t h a t w e a v i n g ' s h i s t o r y i s i n s e p a r a b l e f r o m i t s u s e . Until recently, it was tied above all to the household: rugs and bedspreads were durable goods that signaled thrift and care, passed from m o t h e r t o d a u g h t e r w i t h instructions on washing and storage. By the late nine- teenth and early twentieth but a negotiation between continuity and change, as weavers decide warp counts, r e l i e f h e i g h t , a n d t h e a r r a n g e m e n t o f m o t i f s , reworking familiar elements without freezing them. That flexibility is why these tex- tiles fit naturally into mod- ern homes. Textiles also show how Sardinia balances tradition and innovation. At Sant'An- tioco, sea silk now survives only as education and her- itage because its source mus- s e l i s p r o t e c t e d ; w h i l e i n Bosa, filet adapts in pattern while retaining its net-and- embroidery core. In loom t o w n s , y o u n g e r m a k e r s i n t r o d u c e n e w c o l o r s o r scaled-down formats that s u i t m o d e r n t a s t e s w h i l e k e e p i n g t h e u n d e r l y i n g methods intact. For visitors with limited time, Samugheo remains the most efficient starting point: the museum sets the base- line, the workshops show the present, and the summer e x h i b i t i o n b r i n g s m a k e r s together. A stop in Aggius for the MEOC or in Nule if y o u h a v e m o r e t i m e c a n round out the picture. None of this replaces the experi- ence of sitting in a work- s h o p , w h e r e y o u s e e t h e hours of labor inside a rug or bedspread, but it gives valu- able context before commis- sioning or buying. island's weaving capital for good reason. Set in the Man- drolisai area, where wool was plentiful and household looms remained common well into the twentieth cen- tury, the town had a natural base of skills and materials. A f t e r t h e S e c o n d W o r l d War, local workshops and cooperatives helped keep those skills alive at a time w h e n f a c t o r y w o r k a n d m i g r a t i o n w e r e d r a w i n g p e o p l e a w a y . O u t o f t h a t effort grew two institutions that still anchor the craft today: the first is MURATS, t h e M u s e o U n i c o Regionale dell'Arte Tes- sile Sarda, which gathers textiles from across Sardinia like rugs, bedcovers, gar- ments, and tools, so visitors can compare pibiones with harness weaves in a single s p a c e . T h e s e c o n d i s Tessingiu, a summer exhi- bition that brings weavers a n d a r t i s a n s t o g e t h e r t h r o u g h c u r a t e d s h o w s , market stalls, and demon- s t r a t i o n s . T o g e t h e r , t h e y make Samugheo the easiest place to understand Sardin- ian weaving in context, to watch looms at work, and to speak directly with makers without crisscrossing the island. T h e p i c t u r e o f l i v i n g weaving widens quickly once you leave Samugheo. In Gal- l u r a , t h e M E O C e t h n o - S ardinia's textile h e r i t a g e r u n s f r o m h o u s e h o l d u s e t o t o d a y ' s w o r k s h o p s a n d museums. Wool, linen, and c o t t o n a r e s t i l l w o v e n o n h o r i z o n t a l a n d v e r t i c a l looms into rugs, bedspreads, saddle bags, and table linens whose motifs are a true sym- bol of regional identity. The c r a f t s u r v i v e s a c r o s s t h e island, but knowledge and active workshops are con- centrated in Samugheo, a hill town in central Sardinia that has made weaving its c a l l i n g c a r d t h r o u g h a regional museum and a long-running summer exhibition. To understand what Sar- dinian textiles mean in prac- tice, it helps to start with technique rather than folk- l o r e ; t h e b e s t k n o w n i s a pibiones, which literally means "grains": small cords of weft are wrapped around a metal rod and locked in place, building raised dots that form geometric borders, plants, or stylized animals. Relief is the hallmark, and you can feel the pattern with your fingers. Alongside it are harness weaves that use hed- dles to lift selected warps and produce tight, durable cloth for daily use. O l d e r g a r m e n t s u s e d orbace, a thick felted wool for cloaks, while homes dis- played copriletti fanugas, heavy bedspreads often car- ried in dowries. Other local t r a d i t i o n s i n c l u d e f i l e t embroidery from Bosa and the rare, now mostly sym- bolic sea silk (bisso) of Sant'Antioco, tied to the fan mussel and no longer practiced because the shell- fish is protected. Materials are as local as possible. Sheep's wool has always been plentiful inland, while linen and cotton came as threads and were finished b y h a n d . C o l o r s c h e m e s range from undyed whites and greys to bold contrasts c h o s e n t o r e a d c l e a r l y i n houses lit by small windows and oil lamps. In times gone by, the loom belonged to t h e d o m e s t i c e c o n o m y : w o m e n w o v e f o r f a m i l y needs, dowries, and for sale, and patterns travelled with marriages: what looks today like a stable style is, in fact, the fossil of constant adapta- tion. Samugheo emerged as the GIULIA FRANCESCHINI Reading Sardinian textiles: patterns, practice, and the Samugheo hub Colorful Sardinian wedding clothes, made with local fabrics (Photo: Gianfranco Atzei/Dreamstime) CULTURE LANGUAGE IDENTITY TRENDS ROOTS

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