Buona festa! It’s Ferragosto! This week marks “ferie” throughout Italy. Italians and Sicilians close up shop in the cities and flock to the sea or mountains to meet-up with friends and family to enjoy vacation. For Sicilians who live outside of Sicily, it’s a time to return to Sicily for Ferragosto-related feasts in honor of…
Tag: tatting
Wearable Sicilian Art
This work of art… I mean, bracelet… was hand crafted by Marilita Borgese for Pizzi & Merletti of Palermo. Available exclusively in the U.S. from Gelsomino Imports, LLC, it was created using a technique called tatting in English. In Italian, it is known as “chiacchierino,” which literally means “little chatting” because women chat while they…
Delicate Craft
Delicate enough to be framed, this lace necklace (photographed at Villa Trigona in Piazza Armerina), was created with a technique called tatting. Tatting, which is called “chiacchierino” in Italian, is a craft that’s been practiced by Sicilian women for centuries. Designs are created using thick thread that is manipulated by hand in a series of…
Tatting and a Little Chatting
Signora Pipia, the mother of artist Mirella Pipia, is quite a talent herself! Here, she proudly displays earings that she crafted. With beads and specially chosen thread, really a type of high quality strings of different colors and fibers, she utilized tatting to make these exquisite pieces of jewelry. Tatting in Italian is known as…