Palestrina Embroidery

Many things from Italian needlework have become know to the English-speaking world in bits and pieces. For example, Assisi Embroidery is well known, but the rolled hem and small tassels which generally finish off an Assisi Embroidery piece done in Italy are almost never seen outside of the country.

The same holds true for Palestrina embroidery. It's relatively easy to find English instructions on how to do the Palestrina Knot, but nothing is said about where it comes from or what type of embroidery it traditionally goes with.


This delicious pattern is from an old RAKAM magazine from the early 1930s. It's for a cushion measuring 80 cm x 45 cm, done on Assisi linen (28ct). The magazine recommends No. 3 or 5 Pearl cotton thread if making this design into a tablerunner or finer Pearl Cotton if making a cushion.

Traditional Palestrina Embroidery uses the Rush Stitch (Punto Stuoia) for filling in the background. Rush Stitch resembles Romanian Couching Stitch but the couching stitches are executed more randomly to achieve the effect of the way rushes looked when used as floor covering in the ancient houses of Italy.

The design above is typical of Palestrina Embroidery, this one is based on a 16th century design. The figures are outlined in Stem Stitch, the background is filled in with Rush Stitch, the oval outline in Stem Stitch, the scalloped oval in Palestrina Knots, the teardrops in Satin Stitch, the outer corner designs are outlined in Stem Stitch and the backgrounds are filled with Rush Stitch.

Colour combinations recommended are: porcelain blue for the filling/dark brown for the outlines, gold/bronze-green, antique purple-red or Pompeii red/old gold.

There is a bit of history I translated into English from a website that unfortunately exists no longer:

This embroidery is named after a town in the Latium (Lazio) region called Palestrina, the ancient Praeneste, near Rome.

According to some, the origin of this embroidery dates back to the second century AD. More certain is the fact that in Palestrina in 1907, the "School of ancient embroidery - Ars Palestrina" was founded by the Marquis of Florence Alfredo Uliveri. The school, located on the first floor of the Palazzo Barberini, executed various kinds of embroidery from ancient stitches and in particular Palestrina Embroidery, "invented" by the founder of the school.

Some years later in 1919, once again in Palestrina, Luigi Croce opened a workshop which didn't close its doors until 1969. The workshop reproduced Italian masterpieces (of Perugino, Raphael, Byzantine depictions, etc...). The trademark of this workshop was to execute the drawings on white fabric, leaving the motifs empty and filling in the background with the needle.

The Palestrina Knot is suitable for lines, outlines and curved designs. It is executed from left to right, forming a series of knots, close together or farther apart, giving a raised effect to the work. The background is filled with Rush Stitch and needlewoven picots are used to finish the edges along the hem. Twisted cotton thread or pearl cotton is used on natural coloured fabric to produce the best effect.

Click here to see several beautiful works of Palestrina Embroidery by Stella Chiapparelli.

If you can find it, Adele della Porta wrote a booklet on this technique in 1919 or there is Palestrina artigiana e rurale by Attilio Borzi, Editrice I.T.L. Palestrina, 1979.

On An Evening in Roma

Last year after an exhaustive day touring the Vatican and all its textile treasures, we were invited to have dinner in our tour guide's home. Located right in downtown Rome, Simonetta's apartment had a beautiful terrazza where we ate the most delicious meal. We weren't there long before we started to notice the various embroidered household linens in use around the house. When asked about them, I expected Simonetta to say that she had done them herself but she said they were all done by her mother. I begged her to let me get a closer look and take some pictures.

All the linens were in use, so you will notice that some have stains because we did spill during dinner. Simonetta took it in stride telling us not to worry, she knew how to get out stains. It would be a pity to to put the linens away where no one ever saw her mother's beautiful work and she said that it felt a little like her mother was with her, to have her things all around.

This tablecloth has a design of applied Crochet chain lengths in different shades of Coral with Drawn Threadwork criss-crossing in sections around the edges...


This serving tray cloth is stitched in Punto Stuoia [Rush Stitch] which is similar to Roumanian Couching. It is an excellent stitch to use for filling areas as it is a self-couching stitch and gives great coverage without bulk as most of the thread lays on the front side of the work and only the tiny couching stitches show on the back (see the post on Bizantina Ars for an example of front and back):


This was my favourite and I took many pictures but this one shows a little of all the features. Padded Satin Stitched roses in an Art Nouveau (known in Italy as Liberty) design, Drawn Threadwork lines connecting motifs of Netting worked in the Linen Stitch (also known as the Cloth Stitch). It was exquisitely worked.


The wine stain was an excellent Chianti Riserva that we picked up at the Castello di Verrazzano on our way through Tuscany. They had the most interesting embroidered curtains... but we'll talk about that another time.

Our last evening together in Rome was spent in the very best way: among friends with great food and wine, admiring Italian needlework!

Bizantina Ars

Parts of what we know today as Italy were ruled by the Byzantines for a number of centuries. This influence is evident in some architecture, mosaics, marble carvings, frescos and... needlework.

Bizantina Ars or Byzantine Embroidery (the name Bizantina Ars [Byzantine Art] is actually trademarked) refers to embroidery made to resemble 4th and 5th century mosaics from the Basilicas of Ravenna.

This is a small piece of Bizantina Ars on a little rock salt sack that I purchased in Italy. It was made by the trademarked association which guarantees authentic designs and embroidery:


You can see the progression of the design from marble carving to stitched piece here.

Usually the designs are done as voided work, ie. the backgrounds are filled and the motifs left empty. Outlines are done in Stem Stitch, usually in a brown thread (DMC 801) and the filled areas are done in single coloured Punto Stuoia. The Anchor Manual of Needlework translates this stitch as Rush Stitch as that is the basic idea of it, it is meant to resemble the pattern of the rushes that covered European floors in ancient times. Single colour fillings are most commonly green, gold, red or blue. A high-count 100% Linen fabric is recommended in an ivory colour.

This example of Rush Stitch was sent to me by an Italian lady who does Byzantine Embroidery:


Here is what the back looks like:


(Note: these are examples of Rush Stitch, not Byzantine Embroidery.)

Rush Stitch is similar to Roumanian Couching though it is not meant to be evenly done but rather to have a randomness to it.

If you ever find yourself in Ravenna, all the Byzantine mosaics are worth going out of your way for. The churches of San Vitale and San Apollinare in Classe in particular.

Books about Byzantine Embroidery:
Il ricamo bizantino by Carla Scarpellini (text in Italian and difficult to find but worth it for the designs)
Bello come un sogno d’Oriente - Irma Scudellari Melandri, 2006 (text in Italian and also difficult to find but lots of colour photos of embroideries)
Treasury of Byzantine Ornament by Dover Publications is a good pattern book to use for this type of needlework.

To learn about the history behind Bizantina Ars, go to Tuttoricamo and look under the 'Techniques' heading.

For more pictures, check out the Gallery at the Bizantina Ars website.