Just outside Genova on the coast of Liguria, the medieval tradition of filigree silverwork is alive and well in the town of Campo Ligure – where over thirty workshops still continue this meticulous practice of decorative folded silver thread.
In northwestern Italy, the small alpine commune of Champorcher in the Aosta valley, Valle d’Aosta, has revived the hand-weaving of local natural textiles, namely a sturdy cloth of undyed hemp embroidered with customary red motifs.
The Piedmont region is the home of ‘bandera’ embroidery, a colourful style of raised wool and cotton thread embroidery on white honeycomb fabrics known as ‘painting with a needle’.
In the industrial northern city of Varese, in the verdant Lombardy region, the master luggage makers Bertoni Valigeria are a powerhouse of modern leather craftsmanship.
Close to the Austrian border, the alpine region of Trentino Alto Adige is home to an ancient tradition of peacock feather ‘quillwork’ embroidery. Peacock-quill embroidery (known as Federkielstickerei) is the skill of artistically decorating leather with split feather shafts.