Museo del Ricamo (Embroidery Museum) – Rospigliosi Palace

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Located on the ground floor of the wondrous Palazzo Rospigliosi, in the historic centre of Pistoia, Museo del Ricamo (Embroidery Museum) exhibits a collection of precious items – “sacred” and “Pistoia” embroidery – made from the XVII to the XX century, as well as tools and processing techniques of this traditional art from the city of Pistoia.

In fact, the art of embroidery developed around that very town in XVII century, to be then handed down over the centuries by the nuns of the cloistered monasteries, the women’s schools and, later, by official embroidery workshops and training organizations.

The embroidered fabrics were mainly intended for home furnishings and personal garments of the richest families, as a symbol of prestige and wealth, as well as for ecclesiastical furnishings and clothing. They have always featured floral themes, occasionally enriched with golden scrolls, insects, geometric shapes, numbers, etc. Every single creation is the result of highly-skilled craftsmanship.

The museum itinerary is divided into two rooms, the first dedicated to domestic life (the so-called “white embroidery”) and the second to “sacred” embroidery. The first room displays household linen and personal accessories like the precious Empire-style dress of the Sozzifanti family – probably bought for the young bride Alessandra Rospigliosi.

In the second room, visitors can admire some precious furnishings and embroidered ecclesiastical clothes.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)