Notes: The following essay on arts and crafts was taken from the book, "Peasant Art in Italy" edited by Charles Holme (London: The Study, 1913). The book is available for free at www.archive.org.
PEASANT ART IN THE ABRUZZI.
By Vincenzo Balzano
To those who arc interested in the humbler manifestations of
Italian art the land of the Abruzzi offers a plentiful
harvest: from the most original designs of animals on
door-knockers and locks, fashioned by the workers of
Alba Fucense, to the keys pierced by Mastro Romolo di
Rosciolo, objects which are preserved in the Industrial Museum of Rome; from the iron studs, inlaid with flowers and birds of deeply cut steel, wrought in the workshops of Castel di Sangro, to the cast and beaten copper brasiers, with their ornamentation of cherubs' heads and
figures of animals, made by the coppersmiths of Sulmona ; from a little iron box, with decorations in bas-relief of more recent date, to a wrought-iron balustrade, with spirals terminating in large roses,bunches of grapes, or clusters of tiny buds, roses, forming an inseparable part of the solid structure and appearing to be a magical flowering of the metal itself.
The workers of Abruzzo, more especially or Pescocostanzo,
are celebrated for their gold and silver ornaments for personal adornment. Many of these ornaments are of traditional use and the designing and fashioning of them are also handed down from ancient times. The filigree workers make (large ornamental hairpins) and catmacche (necklaces of filigree beads). The goldsmiths of Pescocostanzo also excel in the Florentine style of working in gold; that is, the arrangement of small finely cast pieces, delicately
retouched by the engraver and soldered together to form some ornamental object. Knitting-needles and distaff-holders, decorated with dancing cherubs, eagles, etc., are made in this manner, as are the gold rings used for betrothals and the dainty phials for perfume {odortni) which are one of the first and humbler presents to the betrothed.
The art of wood-carving has always been a decidedly popular
one in the Abruzzi. Often, impelled by an artistic instinct, a shepherd will take a block of the hardest wood and, with patient and pious labour, fashion from it the rough form of a saint for his village church, a work marvelously beautiful to him and to those who watch its gradual development. But it would take too long to treat of the traditional evolution of wood-carving among the peasant artists of the Abruzzi, and much of the work has little claim to the attention of posterity ; it is hardly necessary to observe that it was mostly very primitive.
Verses carved into the wood of marriage-chests greeted the
bride upon her arrival in her new home, as follows : " Onesta fa bella donna." A chest with such an inscription carved on the top is in the possession of the commune of Guardiagrele. Verses carved on the staves of the shepherds, with an infinity of patient ornamental detail, are strongly reminiscent of old Etruscan myths and beliefs long since forgotten, but which have left behind them curious customs and rites, the traditions of which still cling to the newer
generations who do not seem able to break away from them.
In one show-case at the Rome exhibition of 191 1 a collection of combs was shown, used for scraping the waste particles from hemp, patiently carved and picked out with some sharply pointed tool; bone buttons, a peg for a loom, a pipe and various articles carved by cow-tenders; cheese-stampers and a doll (the sign for a nursery milk
vendor), of which an impression in wax showed the fine and accurate tracery and carving. Very much admired were two razor cases, decorated with symbolical designs, and many wooden spoons for domestic use. In another show-case were exhibited benches and stools, upon the decoration of which the shepherds spend much of their time during the summer season, jealously guarding them from each other
until their completion, and even destroying them if they recognize them to be inferior to the work of another. This custom of carving benches is especially popular among the shepherds of the valleys of Velino and Tonca di Leonessa. Two horns aroused curiosity, the larger was for domestic purposes, the smaller was for the personal equipment of the shepherd, who filled it every fortnight or month
with salt to season his monotonous daily meal of bread and water (pancotto). These horns were covered with ornamental designs and rough figures. A collection of corset-supports, of which the designs were varied but all illustrative of the same symbolisms of religion or love, was shown.
A cacchio or wooden collar for ewes at milking was remarkable; also a small book-case with a design of peacocks, and various vases and bottles. Just below was a wooden statue of Sto. Eustachio, carved by a shepherd of Scanno as a votive offering of his house. Ingenuous but faithfully reproduced, it was a rough copy of the wooden
statue of the patron saint of his parish church. There were numerous needles for knitting stockings, distaffs, and staves, among which was one cut from box-wood and worthy ofnotice because of its grotesque figures. There were also pilgrims' staves and the small tabernacles carried in pilgrimages to Loretto and Casalbordino ; of real interest was a collection of tobacco-boxes, with horn sides and bone bottoms, mostly ornamented with religious and fancy subjects. Of interest, too, were the powder-flasks, rungs for the backs of chairs, two wooden " coppi" or platters, and razor-boxes with various compartments and openings.
To prove that the ceramic arts flourished in the Abruzzi and
were marked with much originality and independence of thought during the middle ages, abundant evidence has come down to us in the small terra-cotta plaques, cleverly masked with colours, which produce a most beautiful effect, especially when they reflect the sunlight. These plaques were set into the battlements and turrets of
the castles of the nobility from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. They were let into the facades of old churches and into belfry walls. The reason for thus decorating the exterior walls of houses with
these majolica tiles is perhaps due to motives of economy, but a more likely cause would be the fact that the houses were built at such altitudes that they were constantly swept by the freezing winds of tramoritana, which are terribly destructive to the softer ornamental stonework.
The more one considers that the hundred or more examples of
majolica work, discovered by Professors De Nino and Pincuella in their zealous researches, were all produced by potters with the most elementary sort of instruction and with the scantiest of means at their disposal, pioneers of their industry, humble workers lacking the comfort or incentive of praise and without hope of fame, the more
these men deserve the admiration of posterity ; but even this is denied them, for their names remain unknown.
I am inclined to think that the art of the potter must have been instinctive in the natives of Castelli, for this region has always been exceedingly rich in the clay required for the industry; fuel is plentiful and comparatively cheap, and there is every facility for carrying the finished work to market. These advantages the Castelli seem to have possessed from time immemorial.
But who can tell the names of these potters of the Castelli?
Their modesty, or perhaps their lack of culture, has hidden that much at least from us. One imagines a teacher, then a second teacher with a following of pupils, forming a school, and the seeds of their teaching falling upon minds already imbued with that odd mixture of piety and fantasy, which was the salient feature of the art of the period, has resulted in a harvest of those singular productions of which many pieces have come down to us : bottles and lamps made
in the shape of grotesque figures ; clay modelled into equestrian figures of men and women ; women seated ; women with their arms akimbo and baskets balanced on their heads.
Many of these curious pieces, brightly coloured in green, blue and yellow (red was not introduced until the nineteenth century) are still to be found in the homes, both of the rich and poor, of the Abruzzi, together with the ring-shaped flasks peculiar to Pugliera. But this industry has degenerated, until to-day its only products are
those popular utensils for domestic use which abound in the fairs and market-places of the Abruzzi, and which, in the brilliance of their enamels and a certain rough skill of workmanship in the tracery of the flowers, and, above all, in their colouring, still reveal traces of the sterling qualities of the ancient school.
However, a school is in existence, dedicated to F. A. Grue, and frequented by students who may revive some of the ancient glory of the art. Fedele Cappelletti, of Castelli, is doing good work also, drawing inspiration from the ancient models for which his ancestor, Candeloro, was famous. The records of his life's labour are his
wonderful paintings on plates and vessels of majolica. For many years he has been quietly pursuing his work with palette and brush among the clay-pits and roaring ovens of Rapino. It is to be hoped that the last secrets of this ancient art will not disappear with him.
The ceramics common to Paleno, Torre di Passeri and other
places in the Abruzzi are still made in the numerous small potteries of the district, and are baked in rude ovens sunk into the earth around the country huts, which, with their cupola-shaped roofs, look for all the world like small temples to primitive gods. Here the more favourite shapes seem to be bottles, flagons zndjiaschetti, squat-shaped vases with narrow necks, and flat or ring-shaped water-vessels ; the decoration always consists of bunches of flowers, the colours being laid on with a coarse brush, or sometimes in spots dabbed on with a small piece of sponge suspended from a stick.
In ancient times, another industry which flourished in the
Abruzzi was that of ornamental leather- work. A leather case, in which the monstrance is kept in the church of Francavilla al Mare, and which is decorated with figures and emblems raised from the none too pliable surface, reminds one very forcibly of other work from the tool of the great Nicolo da Guardiagrele. At one time a throne of leather, worked with gold and silver, existed in the church
of the Rosario in Guardiagrele. It was a wonderful piece of work, executed by Giuseppe Barterii, who lived in that city in 1500.
In no other form of decorative art more than in that of designing and making embroideries and carpets, have those ancient hieratic and heraldic figures been perpetuated, which, twenty centuries before Christ, had their origin in the nearer Orient. With these carpets Of Tescocostanzo before us, woven of wool and marvellous in the harmony of the colours and bizarrerie of the designs, we are reminded of a legend, according to which, in 1600, a great many young Turkish girls were taken prisoners, after a horrible massacre, and brought to Pescocostanzo. These poor half-starved creatures had been driven inland from the coast and arrived at Pescocostanzo with neither clothes nor shelter. Many were charitably received into the homes. They were, however, able to earn their bread, for these tousled black
heads remembered a glorious and ancient art of their own country, and the large black eyes, still dazed with visions of slaughter and bloodshed, longed for the beautiful designs and soft harmonious colours of their home surroundings. That is the legend; but the fact remains that the pleasant sound of the looms was heard in Pescocostanzo even before 1600, and that the women-folk had succeeded in weaving wonderful symmetrical designs from a strange medley of figures and colours.
In Scanno the arts of weaving and dyeing had reached so great a pitch of perfection, that when the inhabitants of Santo Lcmio put up their first looms, a Scannese woman, Columba Mancinelli, whom Torcia calls "ablest of the place," was chosen by them to teach the arts of weaving and dyeing. King Ferdinand held discourse with her in Caserta, and she received decorations and rewards. The embroideries worked by the women of Scanno also filled Torcia with wonder and admiration. In describing the blue cloth head-coverings, he writes: "They were woven in various kinds of threads and covered with intricate embroideries, which were worthy of Arachne." As far back as the end of the fifteenth century, the Dominican monastery in Castel di Sangro was a hive of well-organised industry, and as productive as any of the great factories in our busy cities of to-day. A constant procession of mules, carrying bales of crude wool,
streamed up to the monastery gate, to emerge from another gate loaded with finished carpets. Another factory in the same city belonged to the feudal lord Ferdinando Francesco d'Alvalos (d'Aquino), Marquis of Pescara, and without any intention of reconstructing the mediaeval history of this art of carpet weaving, I will merely draw the attention
of the reader to the records in the "Cronaca Farfensi " of a kind of school for women, in San Benedetto di Vallegriana, where beautiful tapestries for churches were woven. These records, according to Muratori, demonstrate the falseness of the assertion, that many of the materials in use in Montecassino and San Liberatore dalla Maiella came from Constantinople.
And now we come to the history of lace, which was a product of the Abruzzi in ancient times, just as it is now, and which probably also had its origin in some instinct retained from pagan times. Its history shows the same rapid progress to the very summit of art and beauty. In the beginning of the seventeenth century lace was made with a double thread upon a double row of large pins, without any pins
intervening in the breadth of the lace. This caused the lace to be of uniform width and of one texture. Later, when pins were made smaller, it was possible to place them between the width of the lace, the work becoming more complicated or simpler according to the disposition of the pins, and designs thus more varied. With the introduction of machine-made pins of every size and thickness, lace-work has grown more and mure intricate, and some designs form a kind of metallic incrustation on the lace.
In the mountainous districts, which were very isolated from the centres of artistic culture, such as Castel de Monte, Calanio, Santo Stefano, Liccoli, Genopalene and Pescocostanzo, the inhabitants to which had, from earliest times, shown quite as much aptitude and taste for artistic industry as anybody else, the beautiful art of lace-
making remained in its most primitive stages; whilst in Aquila, where the industries of building and weaving were in their glory during the sixteenth century, the art was cultivated to a far greater degree and had a particular and original stamp of its own. The ancient Aquila point has remained famous to this day.
It may be said that a close examination of the technical
methods of the manufacture of old Aquila point reveals the fact that it is composed of a derivation from the conventional seven fundamental stitches of lace-making. This particular combination of stitches represents a new and original departure in the history of the technical side of lace-making. Aquila point is not unlike English point, but it has certain net stitches and raised designs which
add greatly to the difficulty of its making, and which give to it a lighter, yet richer appearance.
The value of much of the lace of the Abruzzi lies in the
method of its making ; for while Venetian point and Valenciennes are generally made in many separate portions which are afterwards joined together, Aquila point is made with a great number of bobbins, the net groundwork, together with the whole of the design, unfolding themselves gradually, without the operator having to go over any part of the lace twice. The thread used in Aquila lace
is also noted for its fineness and whiteness ; it is all spun by hand and is far superior to the thread in Brussels lace, which, when it is washed, loses much of its lustrous appearance, whereas the Aquila thread remains unchanged in its exquisite whiteness.
The little villages of the Abruzzi are numerous, but if we are to believe old chroniclers, each of them had its separate and distinct costumes, all of them attractive and quaint in style and greatly enhancing the natural beauty of their wearers. In their picturesque variety the costumes are significant of both the temperament of the people and the temperature of the region : sombre and severe in those parts where the climate is rigorous, among mist and snow ; gaily ostentatious, with brilliant colouring, in those parts near to the sea, where the sky is always blue and the sun always shines.
In Pettocano the women wear tight, high belts round their
waists, covered with blue cloth and trimmed on the front and around the arm-holes with ribbons and strings of silk and gold. The sleeves are held on by silk laces and tassels. The skirts fall with ample folds to the ankle and are trimmed round the bottom with ribbon; half way up a row of lace runs around the skirt. Over the dress an apron is worn which is called senai or mantera. It is of the whitest silk and woollen cloth, although some peasants now wear other aprons of coloured linen, while the more coquettish ones wear silk. Around their breast they wear the whitest of linen, which reaches up to the throat and is trimmed with lace of more or less fine quality. The hair, which is drawn over the temples, is dressed in a fashion which is copied from the women who live in towns. The head is covered with a conventional white linen head-dress called tovaglia.
This consists of a piece of linen, about a half a yard wide and two yards long, the ends of which are trimmed with long fringes. It is arranged in such a manner that one half falls down over the shoulders to the waist, the other half is folded lengthwise on the forehead into three folds, which full down at the side of the face and are joined to
the back part of the veil at the broadest part of the shoulders. The head and bust of the wearer appear to be in a niche, or frame, of the purest white linen, which gives great refinement to the features and intensifies the beauty of their colouring. In winter a large shawl (mostly of red woollen cloth) is worn over the other garments, folded in two and arranged with one end tucked inside the other and
hanging loosely, in swallow-tail fashion. To-day this custom is only maintained among the elder women of the community. The use of the fasciatrt'ili is, however, quite general. This is a scarf of crimson, or other coloured woollen cloth, which is worn over the tovaglia in wet weather. For ornaments, the women wear earrings of various shapes, rosaries and strings of gold beads, and chains and necklaces of gold. On their fingers are rings, with stones or without, and other similar feminine trinketry.
In Cansona, a little district hidden away amongst the western valleys and glens of Maiella, the men wear short trousers to their knees, with white stockings, waistcoats and jackets, and broad-brimmed, cone-shaped hats, which they adorn with ribbons, peacocks' feathers, or flowers. The women wear bodices from which the long sleeves are divided. Their skirts, detached from the bodices, are
made with broad pleats and trimmed at the hem with coloured ribbon. An ample apron of woollen, or other material, covers the skirt, and on their heads they wear white kerchiefs, folded into a triangle, which they knot under the chin, with two little ends hanging loose. Both men and women protect their feet with strips of leather, which are bound on with strings, or thongs of leather tied round the ankles.
The inhabitants of Scanno wear woollen clothes, whatever the
season may be. The men wear short trousers and dark blue jackets, with green or mixed coloured waistcoats and light blue stockings. The skirt worn by the women is, perhaps not inappropriately, called casacca. It is of a subdued shade of green, or, upon the occasion of a wedding, scarlet, with tiny pleats at the back which are gathered
and joined on to a piece of cloth shaped into the fashion of a loose coat. This garment, once donned, makes the wearer quite shapeless. The bodice {comodino), which is divided from the skirt, is of dark blue cloth, with full sleeves pleated at the shoulders and at the wrists, and is trimmed at the edges with coloured ribbons. In the front it is closed nearly up to the throat, and at the back it has small flaps forming tails. The method of buttoning is rather curious and original. Around the neck the comodmo is trimmed with gathered lace, which forms part of the under-bodice. The apron, which is called mantera, is made of material woven of undressed wool and dyed scarlet, crimson, pale grey or violet. The cappelktto, a most original head-dress, is shaped like a turban and only differs from that of a Mussulman in being a little higher and having a longer
end. It has no folds in front and can be taken off without being undone. The stockings are white, yellow or blue, and not infrequently the shoes are adorned with silver buckles. The face is protected from the rigorous winds of winter by means of a handkerchief folded into a long strip, which is taken under the chin over the cheek and ears and fastened on the top of the head.
At Giulianova the men wear conical hats with large upturned
brims, mostly made of thick black felt ; round the widest part of the crown a lace is tied, or sometimes a velvet band with an iron buckle. Their waistcoats are of red cloth, with steel or brass buttons, and trousers either quite long or cut short to the bend of the knee. On their heads the women wear a piece of calico, doubled in two, the underneath part falling down the back to the waist, and the upper piece as far as the shoulders. The hustino, or corpetto, of black
or scarlet cloth, is a garment which is fastened tightly round the hips and worn loosely round the chest. In summer time the wide sleeves of the under-blouse take the place of the sleeves of the corpetta, which are only worn in the winter. The aprons are very full, but short and mostly white. Chains of coral, with gold mountings and
composed of two or three strands of beads, complete the costume.
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