The Ancient and Noble Art of Silk
Silk has a millennial history. It is said that the birth of the silkworm is attributed to the Chinese Empress Xi Ling Shi, but probably the silk was known in China as early as 3000 BC. The silken robes that were reserved for Chinese emperors became part of the wardrobe of the richer social class, becoming a coveted luxury item that was extended to the areas reached by the Chinese merchants for the qualities of lightness and beauty.
In the mid-6th century AD, two monks, with the support of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, successfully smuggled silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire, which led to the establishment of an indigenous Byzantine silk industry. This acquisition of silk worms from China allowed the Byzantines to have a monopoly of silk and from the tenth to the eleventh centuries, sericulture was practiced in Byzantine territory.
At the time, Southern Italy’s Calabria was part of the Byzantine Empire. Between the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, Calabria was one of the first regions of Italy to introduce silk production to Europe and what happened next is that Italy became the largest producer of European silk - the city of Catanzaro, in Calabria, was particularly renowned for its silk.
According to historians, around 1050 the theme of Calabria had 24,000, mulberry trees cultivated for their foliage, and their number tended to expand. While the cultivation of mulberry was moving first steps in other regions of Italy, silk made in Calabria reached the peak of 50% of the whole Italian/European production. As the cultivation of mulberry was difficult in Northern and Continental Europe, merchants and operators used to purchase in Calabria raw materials in order to finish the products and resell them for a better price.
In particular, the silk of Catanzaro supplied almost all of Europe and was sold in large market fairs to Spanish, Venetian, Genoese, Florentine and Dutch merchants. Catanzaro became the lace capital of Europe with a large silkworm breeding facility that produced all the laces and linens used in the Vatican. From Southern Italy, the cultivation of the silkworm and silk processing world spread first in other regions of Italy and then in the rest of Europe.
The breeding of silkworms was an important income support to the agricultural economy and the production and trade of fabrics – together with that of wool it was a very profitable industry that gave power and wealth to the corporations who practiced it.
In 1466, King Louis XI decided to develop a national silk industry in Lyon and called a large number of Italian workers, mainly from Calabria. The fame of the master weavers of Catanzaro spread throughout France and they were invited to Lyon in order to teach the techniques of weaving.
In 1470, one of these weavers, known in France as Jean Le Calabrais, introduced a new kind of loom which was able to work the yarns faster and more precisely. Some centuries later, the famous Jacquard machine evolved from this approach.
In 1519 Emperor Charles V formally recognized the growth of the industry of Catanzaro by allowing the city to establish a consulate of the silk craft, charged with regulating and check in the various stages of a production that flourished throughout the sixteenth century. At the moment of the creation of its guild, the city declared that it had over 500 looms. By 1660, when the town had about 16,000 inhabitants, its silk industry kept 1,000 looms, and at least 5,000 people, busy.
After the invention of the Jacquard machine, the Italian record was then disputed by the region of Lyon in France. During the 17th century silk production in Calabria begin to suffer by the strong competition of new-raising competitors in Italian Peninsula and Europe (France), but also the increasing import from Ottoman Empire and Persia.
The rediscovery of an ancient tradition
Today, in San Floro, a few kilometers from Catanzaro, a newly-created cooperative called Nido di Seta has rediscovered the ancient silk tradition. The young founders, who came back to Calabria after studying abroad, chose to breed their silkworms on 3,500 Kokuso mulberry trees, rented out by the municipality.
Their production and their processing of silk is of great historical and cultural significance, so much so as to have also led to the birth of a dedicated Silk Museum, set in the beautiful surroundings of an ancient XV century castle.
turnnoffyourmind
jacobvanloon
discoholicmusic
