For centuries, the silk farms of China fed the global demand for the world’s finest fabric — they even named a road after the stuff. The secrets of sericulture were so jealously guarded by the Chinese that anyone caught exporting silkworm eggs or cocoons was condemned to death.
It didn’t work. In the 6th century, monks smuggled silkworms to the court of the Emperor Justinian, and by the 15th century, Italy was dominating European production, with 84 workshops in Florence alone.
Thus began Italy’s passion for fashion: the tents at Henry VIII’s Field of the Cloth of Gold negotiations were hung with Florentine silk; and the Mona Lisa, thought to be the wife of a silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, is almost certainly wearing the stuff.
Today, just one workshop remains in Florence. The Antico Setificio Fiorentino was established in 1786 when a coalition of the city’s silk dynasties came together to save an industry threatened by war and competition from elsewhere in Italy. It’s an extraordinary place to visit: a living museum hidden at the back of a garden of orange trees in the Oltrarno quarter. The hand looms, upon which a skilled weaver will produce just 50cm of silk a day, date from the 18th century, and the warping machine is based on a design by Leonardo da Vinci.
They work with raw silk from Brazil’s Parana district — said by Patrick Thomas, a former CEO of Hermès, to be the best in the world — creating everything from curtains and cushions to bolts of damask and the signature Ermisino fabric, a Renaissance shot taffeta that shimmers in the changing light.
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Visits are by appointment only and a tour of the workshop costs £79pp. There’s no charge to browse the showroom, but you’ll need a credit card if you want to buy. Silks start at £220 a metre, rising to £1,190.
