[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.23.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
There is a very old tradition related to weaving that we want to preserve and revive: that of the gold cloth. We will reveal its history and explain why this noble branch of Venetian textile production is still alive.<\/p>\n
Cloth of gold is a luxury fabric for furnishings and clothing, made by interlacing silk with gold or silver threads.<\/p>\n
Of very ancient origins (some sources date it back to 11th century Greece), gold silk weaving arrived in Venice in the 14th century<\/a> thanks to trade with the Orient, and reached a very high level, especially in the 17th century, so much so that the merchants of the Serenissima exported it to Germany and the Orient, where the demand for luxury fabrics was high. At the end of the 14th century, other Italian states were also producing this type of fine cloth: the Duchy of Milan and the Republics of Genoa, Florence and Lucca.<\/p>\n Various documents testify to the Venetian tradition associated with these precious fabrics. A law of 1366, prohibiting the import of gold cloth, testifies that the production of velvet and gold cloth was constantly increasing (“ars vellutorum et pannorum auri et settae sint multum aucta et continue augeatur”).<\/p>\n In 1370, it was decreed that no slave could learn the art of weaving or produce canvas, velvet and gold cloth. In fact, Venice exercised strict control to ensure the perfection and quality of its textiles. In order to practice the arte della seta<\/em> (silk guild), the artisans had to pass some tests that demonstrated both their ability to set up and use the loom and their skill in weaving velvet.<\/p>\n The activity of our Tessitura is also rooted in this centuries-old tradition. In 1897, Ernesto Trevisani wrote in the “Rivista Industriale e Commerciale di Venezia e Provincia” magazine about the company’s reputation “for brocades and damasks of exceptional taste and quality” as well as “the so-called soprarizzi<\/em>, that are pile-on-pile velvets with raised ornaments on a gold, silver and satin ground. “It must be said,” writes Trevisani, “that for this splendid type the Casa Bevilacqua deserves its reputation as the best producer, easily able to compete with foreign products.”<\/p>\n In 1711, next to the church of San Stae in Venice, the scuola<\/em> for the art of working with precious metals was built. It was a place where they used to meet. The inscription “Scola dell’arte tiraoro e battioro 1711” can still be seen on the fa\u00e7ade of the beautiful small building in late Baroque style. The art of the reduction of gold or silver into threads for the weaving of precious fabrics and embroidery was therefore at the heart of the Sestriere di Santa Croce.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/www.luigi-bevilacqua.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Scuola_Dellarte_de_Tiraoro_e_Battioro_Rio_della_Rioda_Venezia1.jpg” alt=”Visita Patriarca Roncalli | Tessitura Bevilacqua” title_text=”Scuola_Dell’arte_de_Tiraoro_e_Battioro_Rio_della_Rioda_Venezia(1)” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”400px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=”off|off|off” admin_label=”didascalia” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ text_font=”||on||” text_font_size=”12″ background_color=”rgba(218,221,221,0.52)” text_orientation=”center” max_width=”400px” module_alignment=”center” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n “Scoletta dell’arte dei battioro e tiraoro” – Venice<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.23.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n It is said that just before the 11th century, during the reign of Doge Vitale Faliero (1084-1096), the Western Emperor Henry IV visited Venice to venerate the body of St. Mark. At his service was Antinope, a skilled Greek weaver specialized in the art of silk, who made a robe of silk and gold thread for a lady with whom the emperor had fallen in love.<\/p>\n On this occasion, a document of the time mentions the key figures in the art of working with precious metals for weaving: the battiloro<\/em> (gold-beaters), tiraoro<\/em> (gold thread-makers), and filaoro<\/em> (gold thread-winders).<\/p>\n The battiloro<\/em> are the artisans who beat gold with hammers, reducing it to very thin sheets, down to a thickness of ten-thousandths of a millimeter, which are then cut.<\/p>\n The tiraoro<\/em>, are in charge of pulling the precious metals to reduce them to long, very thin threads by forcing them through dies with circular holes of decreasing size.<\/p>\n Finally, the filaoro<\/em> are in charge of winding the gold and silver foils and threads around a textile fiber, particularly silk, in a more or less narrow helix. The ancients used pure gold, but from the 13th to the 16th century, thin sheets of silver or gilded silver were used.<\/p>\n It was then up to the weavers to create the fabrics by hand, using the fine metal yarns to make brocades, damasks and velvets. One of the most characteristic techniques was the allucciolatura<\/em>, a true textile masterpiece<\/a>.<\/p>\n Such precious fabrics are still being produced today.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/www.luigi-bevilacqua.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Atelier_de_batteur_dOr_XVIIIe_siecle.jpg” alt=”Visita Patriarca Roncalli | Tessitura Bevilacqua” title_text=”Atelier_de_batteur_d\u2019Or_XVIIIe_si\u00e8cle” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”600px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=”off|off|off” admin_label=”didascalia” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ text_font=”||on||” text_font_size=”12″ background_color=”rgba(218,221,221,0.52)” text_orientation=”center” max_width=”600px” module_alignment=”center” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Battiloro Workshop (1784, Encyclop\u00e9die Diderot d’Alembert)<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.23.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Occasionally we are asked to make exclusive fabrics with pure gold threads.<\/p>\n This is what happened in 2012 when we made the dress you see in the photo for important Italian designers. We have been working with these designers since 2000 and on this occasion they had chosen one of the patterns in our archive.<\/p>\n The design you see on the dress was originally used for church decoration. The Italian designers chose it to create a couture dress that appeared in the September 2012 issue of Vogue<\/a>, which was dedicated to Italian haute couture and its relationship with the future.<\/p>\n This luxurious gown is a testament to how Venice’s oldest traditions can still shine today, and we will continue to pass them on as time goes by.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/www.luigi-bevilacqua.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/abito-fili-oro-tessitura-auroserica.jpg” alt=”Monica Bellucci abito Dolce&Gabbana | Tessitura Bevilacqua” title_text=”abito fili oro – tessitura auroserica” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”400px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn the history and interesting facts about cloth of gold in Venice, how gold thread velvets are produced, and their current use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":59268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" [et_pb_section fb_built=\"1\" _builder_version=\"4.16\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"][et_pb_row _builder_version=\"4.16\" background_size=\"initial\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"][et_pb_column type=\"4_4\" _builder_version=\"4.16\" custom_padding=\"|||\" global_colors_info=\"{}\" custom_padding__hover=\"|||\"][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"4.23.4\" background_size=\"initial\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" hover_enabled=\"0\" global_colors_info=\"{}\" sticky_enabled=\"0\"]<\/p> Esiste una tradizione antichissima, legata alla tessitura, che desideriamo preservare e far rivivere: quella dei tessuti con fili d\u2019oro. Vi sveleremo la loro storia e illustreremo il motivo per cui questo nobile ramo della produzione tessile veneziana \u00e8 ancora vivo.<\/p> Si chiamano \u201cauroserici\u201d quei tessuti preziosi per arredamento e abiti prodotti tessendo assieme fili di seta e fili d\u2019oro, o d\u2019argento.<\/p> Di antichissima origine (alcune fonti la fanno risalire alla Grecia dell\u2019XI secolo) la tessitura auroserica arriva a Venezia nel Trecento<\/a>, grazie ai commerci con l\u2019Oriente, e raggiunge un livello altissimo soprattutto nel Seicento, tanto che i mercanti della Serenissima la esportavano in Germania e in Oriente, dov\u2019era alta la domanda di stoffe di lusso. Anche altri Stati italiani, alla fine del Trecento, producevano questi tipi di tessuti pregiati: il Ducato di Milano e le Repubbliche di Genova, Firenze e Lucca.<\/p> Diverse testimonianze raccontano della tradizione veneziana legata a questi tessuti preziosi. Una legge del 1366, che vieta l\u2019importazione di stoffe auroseriche, attesta che \u201cars vellutorum et pannorum auri et settae sint multum aucta et continue augeatur\u201d, ossia che la produzione di velluti e di stoffe auroseriche era in costante ascesa.<\/p> Nel 1370 fu ordinato che nessun schiavo potesse apprendere l'arte della tessitura o lavorare con tele, velluto e tessuti d'oro. Venezia, infatti, esercitava un forte controllo per assicurare la perfezione e qualit\u00e0 dei suoi tessuti. Per praticare l\u2019arte della seta, gli artigiani dovevano superare alcune prove che ne dimostrassero sia la capacit\u00e0 di allestire il telaio e utilizzarlo, che la bravura nel tessere il velluto.<\/p> Anche l\u2019attivit\u00e0 della nostra Tessitura poggia le sue radici in questa tradizione plurisecolare. Nel 1897 Ernesto Trevisani, sulla \u201cRivista Industriale e Commerciale di Venezia e Provincia\u201d documenta la fama conquistata dalla ditta Bevilacqua per gli eccezionali damaschi, broccati e i cosiddetti soprarizzi, cio\u00e8 i velluti controtagliati con ornamenti a rilievo su fondo d\u2019oro, d\u2019argento e di raso. \u201cBisogna convenire\u201d scrive Trevisani \u201cche in questo splendido tipo la Casa Bevilacqua gode meritatamente la riputazione di essere la migliore produttrice e di gareggiare con qualche vantaggio coi prodotti esteri\u201d.<\/p> Nel 1711 viene eretta la scuola per l\u2019arte degli artigiani che lavorano i metalli preziosi, accanto alla chiesa di San Stae di Venezia. Sulla facciata del grazioso piccolo edificio di stile tardo barocco, campeggia ancora oggi l\u2019iscrizione \u201cScola dell\u2019arte tiraoro e battioro 1711\u201d. Un\u2019arte, quella di ridurre l\u2019oro o l\u2019argento in fili per tessere stoffe preziose e ricami, che aveva quindi la sua sede nel Sestriere di Santa Croce.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=\"http:\/\/www.luigi-bevilacqua.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Scuola_Dellarte_de_Tiraoro_e_Battioro_Rio_della_Rioda_Venezia1.jpg\" alt=\"Visita Patriarca Roncalli | Tessitura Bevilacqua\" title_text=\"Scuola_Dell'arte_de_Tiraoro_e_Battioro_Rio_della_Rioda_Venezia(1)\" show_in_lightbox=\"on\" align=\"center\" _builder_version=\"4.23.4\" _module_preset=\"default\" max_width=\"400px\" module_alignment=\"center\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=\"off|off|off\" admin_label=\"didascalia\" _builder_version=\"4.23.4\" text_font=\"||on||\" text_font_size=\"12\" background_color=\"rgba(218,221,221,0.52)\" text_orientation=\"center\" max_width=\"400px\" module_alignment=\"center\" locked=\"off\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"]<\/p> Scoletta dell'arte dei battioro e tiraoro, Venezia<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"4.23.4\" background_size=\"initial\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" hover_enabled=\"0\" global_colors_info=\"{}\" sticky_enabled=\"0\"]<\/p> Si racconta che poco prima dell'XI secolo, durante il principato del Doge Vitale Faliero (1084-1096), l'imperatore d'Occidente Enrico IV visit\u00f2 Venezia per venerare il corpo di San Marco. Al suo seguito c'era Antinope, un abile tessitore greco specializzato nell'arte della seta, il quale realizz\u00f2 una veste in seta e filato d'oro per una dama di cui l'Imperatore si era invaghito.<\/p> In quell'occasione, uno scritto dell'epoca menziona le figure chiave nell'arte della lavorazione dei metalli nobili per la tessitura: i battiloro<\/em>, i tiraoro<\/em> e i filaoro<\/em>.<\/p> I battiloro<\/em> sono gli artigiani che battono l\u2019oro a colpi di martello riducendolo in foglie sottilissime, fino ad uno spessore di un decimillesimo di millimetro che vengono poi tagliate.<\/p> I tiraoro<\/em>, si occupano di tirare i metalli preziosi cos\u00ec da ridurli a lunghi fili sottilissimi, facendoli passare con forza attraverso filiere di fori circolari di misure decrescenti.<\/p> Infine i filaoro<\/em> sono addetti ad avvolgere le lamine e i fili d\u2019oro e argento attorno a una fibra tessile, specialmente seta, ad elica pi\u00f9 o meno stretta. Gli antichi usavano oro puro, ma dal secolo XIII fino al XVI, sottili lamine di argento o argento dorato.<\/p> Era poi compito delle tessitrici produrre le stoffe seguendo un procedimento manuale, realizzando broccati, damaschi e velluti con i filati in metallo pregiato. Tra questi, una delle tecniche pi\u00f9 particolari era l\u2019allucciolatura, un vero e proprio virtuosismo tessile<\/a>.<\/p> Ma questi tessuti preziosi vengono prodotti anche oggi.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=\"http:\/\/www.luigi-bevilacqua.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Atelier_de_batteur_dOr_XVIIIe_siecle.jpg\" alt=\"Visita Patriarca Roncalli | Tessitura Bevilacqua\" title_text=\"Atelier_de_batteur_d\u2019Or_XVIIIe_si\u00e8cle\" show_in_lightbox=\"on\" align=\"center\" _builder_version=\"4.23.4\" _module_preset=\"default\" max_width=\"600px\" module_alignment=\"center\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=\"off|off|off\" admin_label=\"didascalia\" _builder_version=\"4.23.4\" text_font=\"||on||\" text_font_size=\"12\" background_color=\"rgba(218,221,221,0.52)\" text_orientation=\"center\" max_width=\"600px\" module_alignment=\"center\" locked=\"off\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"]<\/p>The Production of Gold Cloth<\/h2>\n
The Dress of Famous Italian Designers with Bevilacqua Venetian Velvet<\/h2>\n
Caratteristiche dei tessuti auroserici e cenni storici<\/h2>
La produzione dei tessuti auroserici<\/h2>