Leggende su canapa

There are ancient stories featuring knights and sibyls, dragons, monks, witches and magical plants. Stories that have come down to us, told and passed down from generation to generation.

And then there are modern stories, where the life of a museum meets that of an artist, like the one we are about to tell you. A story that is literally intertwined with a past of legends, but also of manual crafts, such as embroidery or fabric dyeing, once done with plants found in the Valnerina, yet still holding firm roots in the modern world.
It all began in a very peculiar time, where an evil disease made everyday life difficult and forced Museums to close their physical doors for a very long winter…but not forever. While waiting, as in the best happy endings, for a metaphorical knight to come and slay a cruel dragon, it was the virtual doors that opened even wider, allowing us to keep the connection alive and strengthen ties with many people.
It was thanks to this new way of keeping in touch that one fine day, in December 2020, our Museum crossed paths with Filippo Biagioli, an Italian artist who often incorporates yarn and textiles into his artwork: needless to say, it was love at first sight for both!

Through a series of tweets, Filippo, also known as Analphabeta, was inspired by a world familiar to him, made of handcrafted textiles, threads dyed with natural pigments, embroidery and traditions, surprising us with a proposal that excited us from the very beginning.

 I saw that you got a book as a gift. I also make fabric books … But what if I made one for you?

This message could represent the “once upon a time” of our story. From this moment, something began to take shape in the hands of “our” Filippo, a book with very special pages. Its pages were not made of paper, but of hemp fabrics embroidered with images inspired by the legends of Valdinarco, the very same stories that are now part of our “Fables on the Loom.”
From this initial idea, we then followed with curiosity the creation of his work. We have watched Filippo’s hands embroider the figure of Guerrin Meschino, the witches, or the dragon from the legend of Saints Felicee Mauro and juxtapose these legends with some traditional dye plants that are dear to our region.

Patience, passion… and a few kilometers of thread! This is how this incredible work of art was born: the Legendary of the Valnerina.

Today the “Legendary of the Valnerina” belongs to our Museum, as does the story of its creation: because even in modern time of social networks, there are still skilled hands that create unique objects, capable of reviving that very ancient world of stories and legends from our land.
And we will never stop thanking Filippo for gifting us his wonderful ““Leggendario della Valnerina