sapori-saperi
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Resources
  • Tours
    • Small Group Tours >
      • Celebrating Sardinia
      • Tuscan Heritage
      • Giants of Sardinia
      • Autumn in Tuscany
      • Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool
      • Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread
      • Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For
      • Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia
    • Tastes and Textiles
    • Day Adventures
  • Courses
    • Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany
    • Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma
    • Art & Science of Gelato
    • Artisan Bread Course Tuscany
    • Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese
    • Mozzarella & its Cousins
    • Mozzarella Consultancy
    • Olive Oil Tree to Table
    • Truffle Course
  • Booking
    • Enquiry
    • Booking Conditions
    • Covid-19
  • What people say
  • Blogs
  • Contact

Tastes & Textiles tours in Italy: from a fellow traveller

12/12/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
Brocade on loom at Fondazione Lisio, Florence. (Photo: Sue Scott)
Hello Travelers,

I'm Sue, a guest writer, and I've just returned from touring Italy with Erica on the Wine to Dye For and Giants of Sardinia tours. I'm from the States, west of Seattle and south Victoria, BC. I confess to being a textile and food junkie – both come from a passion for texture and color – the physicality of the materials I play with. I couldn't live without working with my hands; textiles and food are great playgrounds with luscious results.
I thought I'd literally dyed and gone to heaven on the Wine to Dye For tour.
Picture
Here I am mixing wine and natural pigments under Tommaso Cecchi De' Rossi's supervision to make my chosen colour.
Picture
Tommaso let us into his secret, patented method of dyeing with wine and natural pigments. (Photo: Sue Scott)
Picture
You're not limited to reds. You can create a whole range of colours if you know how.
Dyeing with wine was only a small part of the tour. We visited the Fondazione Lisio in Florence where silk velvet and brocade are still hand woven – soft, silky and fluffy – playing with clouds! ​
Picture
At the entrance gate you could tell there would be exciting things inside. (Photo: Sue Scott)
Picture
A young American was certain from a tender age that he wanted to be a weaver and was ecstatic when he was accepted as a trainee by the Lisio. He was glad to talk to a fellow American.
Producing and re-producing woven textiles is a very structured activity, we saw that, as well as wildly creative pieces at the leather school. The students were from all over the world – the mixing and matching colors and texture combinations were fabulous. But I must say my heart and eyes were captured by the mixed leather pieces with ancient and new artifacts combined sometimes boldly and others subtly in very functional handbags with out of this world prices – oh well! Inspiration.
Picture
Hand-stitched bag designed by Francesca Gori, daughter of the founder. (Photo: Sue Scott)
For me this mixture of old and new was the most fascinating discovery during our travels. It was everywhere and not limited to the very expensive. It was very exciting to see younger and older Italians working together – sometimes easily and sometimes not – to preserve old artisanal traditions and at the same time develop products to meet current interests, creating new economies. At a home show in Lucca I met a young woman who, along with her five sisters, had invented a washable paper for new packaging and storage products. 
There was also the “Renaissance Man,” Renato, who taught us to make baskets, so talented with his hands that he built a medieval wooden lathe. This connecting past to future has a long history in Italy; in Florence I had a chance to see Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions – originally in wood – precursors to many modern machines including the helicopter!
Picture
Not only a talented craftsman, Renato is a patient teacher. Here he's helping fellow traveler Gynnie get the base of her basket right.
Picture
Pam & I discovered our unfinished baskets made great headdresses. (Erica says future tours will give you a whole day with Renato so you can finish.)
I also found that many of these artisan entrepreneurs own the entire process from growing/raising, harvesting, processing and packaging – most often family enterprises. This was true for shepherds tending flocks to making cheeses – our cheese, freshly made, was delicious. Farmers who were millers and bakers taught us to make delicious bread; and I met a weaver growing and processing her own flax, spinning (a challenge I could not meet) then weaving it.
Picture
If you go on the extension tour to Sardinia after the Wine to Dye For tour, you'll have a workshop with Arianna.
A very old way of doing business, new again on a small scale giving the producers total control, except for Mother Nature, over their artisanal products. Most, if not all, are very conscious of sustainability and few have desires to become giant corporations. They still sit down to the tastiest family meals, made mostly of their own and other local products. Home cooked meals – yes, “just like mamma made!” And sometimes now, made by the men in the family.
Picture
Letizia Tori cooked some of our meals which we ate in her home dining room. Her pork & beans transcend the average! (Photo: Letizia Tori)
I got a glimpse of a sustainable, artisanal community and economy not available to just anyone. One you had to be introduced to and Erica does just that. Thinking of that fondente gelato still brings tears to my eyes—sharp, dark velvety chocolate—or the sparkling lemon basil bursting like prosecco bubbles in your mouth.
Picture
Our accommodation was special too. View from the villa where we stayed. (Photo: Sue Scott)
I thought the Wine to Dye For tour was perfection, but Erica had other ideas, and I can see her point. The new version is more compact, focusing on the contiguous areas of Pistoia and Pescia in Tuscany, with a little foray to Florence for the leather and silk weaving schools.  You no longer visit the mountains of the Garfagnana, but her Hanging By a Thread tour in June 2020 is based there. With the help of her Italian friends she has found additional interesting artisans.
Picture
Here's one of them who will teach you "filet a modano".
Picture
The new vineyard visit looks very tempting too.
I can see I will need to do this tour again with the new producers and making sure to leave time to add a one-day home gelato course to my trip (check with Erica about it).

Tours mentioned in my blog:
Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For
Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia
Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread
Giants of Sardinia
Click on the tabs below the introduction and read the information in the the window below: Highlights, Itinerary, Group Leaders, Accommodation, Price & Stuff, What People Say and Map.

If you have any questions, contact Erica at info@sapori-e-saperi.com


1 Comment
    Email Subscription
    Click to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe

    Author

    Erica Jarman

    Categories

    All
    Advanced Salumi Course
    Agriculture
    Artisans
    Baking
    Beer
    Boat Tour
    Celebrating Sardinia
    Cheese
    Cheesemaking
    Chestnuts
    Cooking
    Courses
    Festival
    Food
    Gelato
    Giants Of Sardinia
    History
    Italy
    Italy Vacation
    Life
    Lucca
    Makers
    Milk
    Mozzarella
    Music
    Olive Oil
    Olives
    Prosciutto
    Salumi
    Sardinia
    Seafood
    Slow Travel
    Small Group Tours
    Textiles
    Tours
    Tradition
    Travel
    Tuscany
    Wine

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    January 2019
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    September 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    September 2010
    April 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009

Subscribe to Newsletter
Enquire about Tours
Picture
We acccept
Picture
Read about us
Picture
International passenger Protection
Picture
contact us | terms & conditions | privacy policy 
copyright 2017 sapori-e-saperi.com | all rights reserved
Website by Reata Strickland Design
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Resources
  • Tours
    • Small Group Tours >
      • Celebrating Sardinia
      • Tuscan Heritage
      • Giants of Sardinia
      • Autumn in Tuscany
      • Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool
      • Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread
      • Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For
      • Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia
    • Tastes and Textiles
    • Day Adventures
  • Courses
    • Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany
    • Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma
    • Art & Science of Gelato
    • Artisan Bread Course Tuscany
    • Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese
    • Mozzarella & its Cousins
    • Mozzarella Consultancy
    • Olive Oil Tree to Table
    • Truffle Course
  • Booking
    • Enquiry
    • Booking Conditions
    • Covid-19
  • What people say
  • Blogs
  • Contact