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DESTINATIONS ITALY | MATURE TRAVEL
Artisan weaver Marta is among the local characters mature travellers can meet on a guided tour of central Italy, discovers Samantha Mayling
his is my passion,” says Marta Cucchia, a fourth-generation weaver in the medieval Church of San Francesco delle Donne in
Perugia. Her hands and feet move expertly as the shuttle flies between the threads on the antique wooden loom, creating a pattern that dates back hundreds of years.
In the Middle Ages, the pope banned the artform during a power struggle with Perugia, but Marta’s great- grandmother, Giuditta Brozzetti, discovered the tradition had survived in secret for centuries, hidden away in the quiet corners of Umbria’s secluded farmhouses. Giuditta set up a workshop in 1921 to revive the
age-old practice, and the skills passed from mother to daughter until in 2015, Marta, unable to afford new equipment or staff wages, feared it would close. In stepped the TreadRight Foundation – a charity run by Insight Vacations’ parent company, The Travel Corporation – providing a grant to help Marta sell her wares online and train apprentices. “Without their support, I could not continue. The grant from the foundation is a miracle,” she says.
Insight Vacations tour groups can visit Marta at her workshop, Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti, and watch her create complex patterns while talking about the heritage of Perugia’s weavers. We learn how local textiles were famed for their
diamond pattern, which can be seen on the tablecloth in Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, and how to make punch cards for Jacquard machines. On paper, it hadn’t sounded like the highlight of this culture-rich itinerary, but everyone on the tour was charmed by Marta and her story, many of them bringing back souvenirs to remind them of this home-spun history.
COMEDY COOKING
Similar tales of passion and dedication were told by other artisans on our tour, starting with chef Lorenzo Polegri. Our group watches Lorenzo in action as he makes pasta at Ristorante Zeppelin, his Orvieto venue named after his favourite band, Led Zeppelin. Using just flour, water and eggs, Lorenzo
expertly kneads the pasta dough and rolls it into a delicate, thin sheet that covers the large granite ²
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