The “Anita Belleschi Grifoni” Tulle Museum
The “Anita Belleschi Grifoni” Tulle Museum in Panicale celebrates Ars Panicalensis, the ancient embroidery on tulle. Founded in the 1930s, it displays refined artifacts such as wedding dresses and sacred vestments.
The beautiful 16th-century Church of Sant’Agostino in Panicale has housed the “Anita Belleschi Grifoni” Tulle Museum since 2001, dedicated to Ars Panicalensis, a special form of artistic embroidery on tulle practiced at the Collegio delle Vergini, an educational institute for girls founded in the 17th century by Jesuit Father Virgilio Ceppari. The college was closed in 1872, but in the 1930s, Anita Belleschi Grifoni revived this ancient form of artistic craftsmanship. Anita Belleschi had learned the art of embroidery from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Città della Pieve. In the 1930s, already a skilled embroiderer in her forties, she decided to revive the practice of embroidery on tulle, which had originated at the Collegio delle Vergini, inspired by the ancient pieces found in the churches of Panicale. She then founded a school in the premises of Countess Mancini di Lemura, who provided them rent-free; in return, the countess was periodically gifted these precious items. Thus was born Ars Panicalensis, which soon became a tool for the emancipation of the women of the town. The school became not only an artistic workshop but also a meeting place and a center for the organization of cultural and local events.
Besides being a skilled embroiderer, “Sora Anita”, as the people of Panicale called her, was an enterprising and visionary woman: together with her daughter, she created and gifted a christening gown to Princess Maria Pia, daughter of King Umberto and Queen Maria José. Thanks to this gift, Ars Panicalensis became famous among Italian nobility and the upper bourgeoisie, who commissioned tablecloths, trousseau fabrics, and wedding dresses from Anita’s school embroiderers. The art of Panicale tulle embroidery outlived its founder, who passed away at the age of ninety, and is still practiced today in the village by numerous artisans. Between lace and embroidery The Church of Sant’Agostino is a simple yet precious construction: a single nave houses remains of beautiful Renaissance frescoes, including a Madonna and Child from the school of Pietro Perugino. Entering it feels like a journey back in time: surrounded by the ancient colors of Renaissance paintings and the white cascade of embroidered tulle. The artifacts preserved in glass cases tell stories from the past, responding to various needs, including religious (altar cloths, priestly vestments, including the beautiful priestly alb, the oldest piece in the museum), festive (wedding and christening dresses, veils to wear in church, embroidered gloves, flowers to adorn dresses, and theater fans), and everyday use (doilies, baby carriers, shawls, etc.). The embroidery designs are surprising and beautiful: cascades of flowers, like those adorning the museum’s largest piece, the beautiful wedding veil made by the women of the town, as well as garlands, scrolls, little birds, flowering branches, ribbons, and landscapes. There is even an embroidery that exactly replicates the design of the tympanum in Perugino’s fresco of “ The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian” in Panicale’s church dedicated to the saint.