Whenever I travel, I love looking for local textiles, traditional handcrafts or folk art, and, of course, fabric shops. I'm always curious to see what people in another part of the world have made with their hands - and whether I can bring home a small piece of creative inspiration to my own sewing room. For previous examples, see my recaps of visits over the years to places like Amsterdam, Mexico City, and Norway.
This year we planned a dream trip with our daughters to visit the regions of Italy where my husband's grandparents came from - specifically between Rome, Naples and Salerno at the southern end of Amalfi. Before our trip, I naturally did some research on what kinds of fabric stores, quilting traditions, or regional folk art I might find or visit along the way. As it turns out, southern Italy isn't necessarily a destination where quilters need to spend valuable sightseeing time tracking down fabric shops. That doesn't mean there aren't any fabric or embroidery stores to be found, but if you're visiting for a limited amount of time, I wouldn't build your itinerary around them.
Instead, my advice is simple:
Look down.
Quilting Inspiration Is Everywhere in Italy
As I said, if you're a quilter headed to Southern Italy, don't spend time hunting for quilting shops - especially if you are from the US. Most of the fabric you'll find is more readily available at home and for a lot less money. Instead, focus on feasting (literally and figuratively) on what is unique to Italy!
Italy is such a visually stunning destination with history that is unparalleled. Don't worry about fabric shopping and soak up as much of the historical sites and scenery as you possibly can. Because there is quilting inspiration to be found EVERYWHERE. Churches, museums, historic buildings, courtyards, sidewalks, and even ordinary entryways were filled with beautiful geometric tile and stonework. I started taking pictures of floors and tiles everywhere we went.
And with that - get ready to feast your eyes below. Here's a brief little history on some of the geometric art and design traditions in Italy through the past 2 millenia. Designs that are over 2000 years old are timeless and inspiring for modern quilting today.
The Mosaics of Ancient Rome
Mosaic art existed before the Roman Empire, but the Romans took that skill/trend and ran with it on an epic scale. Craftspeople arranged thousands of small pieces of stone, marble, ceramic, or glass - called tesserae - in mortar to create decorative and durable floors and walls for homes, bathhouses, temples, and public buildings. So durable that you can still find examples of it today.
Above are some examples of decorative motifs: the pillars are excavated from Pompeii and found in the Archeology Museum in Naples. The wall in the middle picture is found in a Roman home in Herculaneum.
Some mosaics pictured people, animals, or scenes from mythology. Both of these examples were excavated from Pompeii. The portrait below left is a mind-blowing example of teeny-tiny pieces the size of a pencil lead that create this detailed portrait.
Others were made entirely from repeating geometric shapes like these floors excavated from the ruins at Herculaneum that are about 2000 years old! You can totally see the timeless, quilt-y inspiration and patchwork vibes, right?
Here's a few more examples from Herculaneum. Herculaneum was destroyed and buried by the same eruption of Mt Vesuvius that buried Pompeii in the year 79 AD.
Pompeii is an incredible site - I was blown away by the size and scope - it really is a large city and takes at least the better part of a day to see it all. If you're short on time, the ruins at Herculaneum are just as amazing and the town is on a much smaller scale so you can see everything within a couple of hours. It's a great alternative.
The National Archaeological Museum of Naples houses one of the world's most important collections of ancient Roman art, including mosaics, frescoes, sculptures, and everyday objects recovered from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Visiting the ruins themselves, you'll get the bigger scope of a Roman city and community. The museum is where archeologists have taken the smaller pieces to preserve and protect and where you can see them up close.
Quilt Inspired Patterns Carved In Stone
The carved stonework from the Roman era was every bit as inspiring as the mosaic floors. Craftspeople used shallow and deeper relief carving to create rosettes set into grids, delicate grapevines winding around an urn, and intricate interlocking bands that seem to weave over and under one another.
These two decorative stone pieces are found in the collection at the Vatican. The square one with the carved rosette pattern is the base of a large candelabra. The second is a vase with intricately carved vines. I love that scalloped border design of the bottom third of the vase.
The interlocking designs on these two pieces are from ancient Roman sarcophagus, or stone burial containers.
One more example from ancient Roman architecture was the simple repetetive design of these stone checkerboard walls - but built on point!
Medieval Marblework: The Cosmati Style
Let's move about a 1000 years ahead in history to the medieval period in Italy. Italy was coming out of it's "dark ages" after the fall of the Roman empire to invading tribes from the North, and beginning to build beautiful Christian churches and basilicas.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Roman stoneworkers developed an elaborate style of decorative inlay now known as Cosmati, or Cosmatesque, work. Building on the ancient Roman tradition of opus sectile ("cut work"), artisans fitted pieces of colored stone into white marble to form interlocking circles, stars, diamonds, triangles, and braided borders. Much of the richly colored stone was salvaged from the ruins of ancient Rome; old columns were even sliced crosswise to create the large circular disks seen in many church floors.
Although the style is named for the Cosmati family, several generations and families of Roman marble workers practiced it, decorating not only floors but also altars, pulpits, tombs, and church furnishings.
As a quilter, these carefully pieced designs look remarkably familiar - beautiful examples of simple geometric shapes combining to create intricate, repeating patterns. They kind of blow my mind with their intricacy not to mention the geometric shapes fitting into circular designs!
It's hard enough for me to do the geometric work to make circular designs out of fabric. I can't imagine doing it with marble!
These pieces are found in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. This is one of Rome's oldest churches, traditionally founded in the third century and possibly the city's first official place of Christian worship. The present basilica was mostly rebuilt in the twelfth century and is has incredible medieval mosaics, ancient columns, and these beautiful geometric marble floors.
Cosmati work was not unique to central and southern Italy. The style was primarily a Roman and Lazio tradition, with its greatest concentration in Rome and nearby towns such as Tivoli, Anagni, Subiaco, Civita Castellana, and Terracina. It also spread into Campania and Sicily, while Roman craftsmen occasionally carried it much farther afield; the famous Cosmati pavement at Westminster Abbey was created by craftsmen brought from Rome in 1268.
These floors were in the Cattedrale Di San Cesareo in Terracina, Italy where my husband's grandmother's family lived for centuries before they emigrated to the US in the early 20th Century. It was amazing to think that my children's ancestors worshiped for centuries on these floors.
These colorful mosaic panels displayed in the Cloister of Paradise at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Amalfi are fragments from the cathedral's medieval amboni, or raised pulpits, commissioned during the late twelfth century. Tiny pieces of colored stone and glass -including some shimmering with gold - were fitted together to create peacocks, flowers, stars, interlocking lines, and rows of precise geometric shapes.
The designs reflect Amalfi's position as a thriving maritime center where Western, Byzantine, and Islamic artistic traditions met.
The exterior of the cathedral in Amalfi is so unique and absolutely stunning! I've never seen anything like it. Amalfi Cathedral's dramatic striped façade combines Arab-Norman, Byzantine, and Gothic influences, with colorful mosaics, pointed arches, and intricate geometric patterns. It was rebuilt in the late 19th century over the pre-medieval church after the earlier façade partially collapsed in 1861; the present design was completed in 1891.
The neighboring bell tower was covered in scaffolding when we were there but it is much older, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. (See images here.)
Stone carving was also detailed and elaborate during the medieval period as shown in this piece with two mirroring peacocks. The careful repetition, symmetry, and richly textured carving make the panel feel almost like an elaborate wholecloth quilt brought to life in stone.
The Colorful Majolica Tiles of the Amalfi Coast
As we traveled farther south toward the Amalfi Coast, the geometric patterns continued, but the restrained colors of ancient stone and medieval marble gave way to exuberant color.
The region is famous for its tradition of maiolica, or majolica: earthenware covered with an opaque glaze, hand-painted with colorful designs, and fired again to create a hard, luminous surface. Vietri sul Mare became the center of this ceramic tradition, with documented production of pottery and decorative floor tiles dating back to the sixteenth century. Known locally as riggiole, the tiles were used to decorate the floors and walls of churches, villas, and private homes throughout the region.
This close-up from the Church of San Michele in Anacapri shows the decorative floral section of its eighteenth-century majolica floor. (The outdoor views from Anacapri are equally spectacular. 😉)
Another one of the most famous examples of majolica tile is the dome of the church of Santa Maria Assunto in Positano.
The majolica tradition is still alive along the Amalfi Coast, where shops sell colorful hand-painted tiles, plates, bowls, pitchers, and serving pieces featuring lemons, flowers, fish, and geometric designs.
Southern Italy is filled with so much quilting inspiration and all you have to do is open your eyes! From the ancient Roman mosaics of Pompeii and Herculaneum to medieval Cosmatesque church floors and the colorful majolica tiles of the Amalfi Coast, simple geometric shapes have been created and repeated into intricate designs for centuries. The inspiration and amount of eye candy is off the charts!
What Made This Trip Personal
This trip has been a bucket list trip for decades. As I mentioned, my husband's grandparents were Italian - their parents emigrated to the US in the early 20th century. He has always wanted to visit the towns they came from. We were so happy to finally get there and take our daughters to learn about their heritage as well!
The towns they came from are off the beaten path (which was nice because:no crowds!) but it also didn't hurt that the towns weren't far from beautiful, world class locations like Rome and Amalfi! (It also didn't hurt that amazing food was abundant and included a daily serving of gelato. 😉)
But the very coolest part of all was connecting with family members who still live there! My husband's grandmother passed away a few years ago, but she still has six living 1st cousins in Italy!
We were generously hosted by the multiple cousins and their posterity including one whose daughter has a Bed n Breakfast. They drove us around to see the beautiful town, coast, and historic family sites in Terracina.
We showed up with next to no Italian skills (other than a few months of Duolingo) and they made us feel right at home. All of the nearby family - about 20 people! - came for a family feast. It was so amazing - the Italian stereotypes of warm welcome with family + food are real! I was desperately wishing I had subtitles for all of the conversations, but thanks to a 19-year-old grandson who spoke English and Google Translate we were still able to make the most wonderful connections that have continued since we came home.
It was an incredible experience to watch my husband and daughters connect with and fall in love with their distant family members as well as visit the towns of their roots. It was the trip of a lifetime but now I want to go back again and again!
In Italy there is eye candy and inspiration everywhere - both quilting and otherwise. If you go, don't worry about seeking out quilt shops - they can wait until you get home.
Instead, soak in the incredible natural beauty and centuries of human creativity all around you. There is so much inspiration to notice, photograph, and bring home!
Looking for more armchair travel or cultural quilting/sewing-inspired traditions? Here's a few:
Here's a few others including: Manx hand piecing/quilting from the Isle of Man, a surface creator who changed the history of design in London, and Sewing and Embroidery Inspiration in Paris.
Sherri Edwards says
VERY much enjoyed this piece! I loved the pictures and all of your descriptions of the beautiful scernery! I always look forward to your weekly informative email and this week’s was extra special!!!
Sherri E.
Beth Holcombe says
Absolutely fabulous and so detailed reporting job you did in the whole region surrounding Sorrento! I saw it all over again through your eyes! You need to take a group of serious quilters who do their own quilting along with you. Thanks for the shared journey, and now to study Italian to be ready for the next trip.
Ginny Turner says
Wow...amazing trip. Your photos are fantastic and are full of inspirtation..I am truly amazed of the workmanship that went into creating these masterpieces of history...especially when considering that it was done several centuries ago. No power tools, no computers to figure out the math, etc. You & your family had a great vacation trip and gained another part of your extended family. Many thanks for sharing your beautiful photos.
Jennifer A says
Loved this article! The pictures are amazing. Hopefully this will be the first of many trips to Italy for you and your family.
Kathy Anderson says
I don’t travel much anymore, but I felt like I was “with you” on your Italian Roots trip. Your photographs were stunning and your description of meeting the family was heartwarming. Thanks for giving links to your other trips.
Marg Bartosek says
Well, you did it again, Amy! Thanks for a beautiful, detail-rich experience from your travels! Having found a cousin of my deceased grandfather in a small town in the Czech Republic when traveling there in 1982, I totally understand the excitement and deep connections of such family connections. Thanks for sharing, as always. And for the Ken Burns article last week too. Way cool!
Robby says
Hello Miss Amy. This was just such a breathtaking beautiful post. Your research of the history and glorious photos made me wish I were there too. Thank you so much for sharing such a very special adventure with us. I am truly gobsmacked!!
Carolyn says
What an incredible trip, thank you for sharing it with us!
Carol says
Beautiful pictures. I had no idea when I went to Italy (either 1967 or 1980) that these mosaics were ideas for quilts, as I didn't start quilting until I was in my 60s. Fantastic pictures as well as the beauty of the older style of walls, floors, etc. Probably ceilings too. Wish I could go back but at 80 I'm not walking well enough to travel. Hugs
Bette says
Thanks for the lovely pictures! I’ve been to the parts of Italy you mentioned and your travelogue brought back some wonderful memories. I took similar pictures of the beautiful designs on floors and walls. Breathtaking! And we ate some gelato every day! I wish everyone had the chance to travel. So much to learn and appreciate.
Diane Foos says
Thank you for this inspiring post and gorgeous photos!
Maureen Conner says
Absolutely wonderful and fascinating piece! thank you for sharing your remarkable trip with us!
Lori says
Thanks for this great review and pictures. I’m going on a cruise around Italy in three weeks so this is very timely! You put a great history report together. 🙂 Sooo many great pictures.
Karen E. says
Thank you Amy for sharing this wonderful trip with us! The pictures were amazing! I can hardly wait to see what you create from all that inspiration. 💕❤️💕
Laura B says
Hi Amy,
Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures and experiences of this trip. I am fascinated by tile patterns where one shape repeated makes a design. Glad you could connect with family and bring the world closer.
sue s says
We were in Florence Italy this past spring and I was stunned at the beautiful quilting tile designs on the floors, walls, columns, and even on the outside of the churches and cathedrals! Patterns such as you showed were also found on doors and walls. We were on a tour so there wasn't time to get into much detail but I will never forget what we saw (and the pictures I took will help too)!
Jan Welshenbaugh says
What a truly marvelous trip! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us including the fabulous pictures! Eye candy, indeed!! The intricate workmanship is phenomenal and so beautiful. What amazing artisans! While all you captured during your sightseeing was incredible, how blessed you were to meet and gather with your husband's relatives! My eldest sister had a similar experience when she met some of our relatives in Switzerland! Blood is thicker than water!! Such a grand trip for your daughters and one they will never forget!
Beleah says
That article was do good. What great pictures and quilt inspiration!
thank you for sharing.
Tanja says
Thank you for sharing this lovely post full of great pictures and fantastic information too.
elin lind says
there is a book by Norah Mcmeeking, Bella Bella Sampler Quilt.
She has made the most beautiful book, about what you describe, lots of mosaic from ainsent Roma an Italy.
Many of the pattern you show, from old times, we believe is only fra yesteryear, Ohio star, lemoyn star, sucker cup, etc.
thank you for showing us what you discovered.
kind regards
elin
ChrisAnn says
Amy, thank you for sharing pictures about your family trip to Italy. They were amazing! What an inspiration! So many special memories with new family members. Now you will have so many ideas for fun quilt patterns! Keep being your creative self!
Donna Sproston says
Thank you for this wonderful post! Our daughter has bought a refugio in the Italian Alps and I hope to visit next summer. I love simple geometric quilts and your photos are providing inspiration.
Peggy says
I enjoyed this post. It’s amazing to be able to see a country from someone’s view. I’ll never go there, but I enjoyed my armchair trip. Thank you!
Becky Bunke says
Amy, what a fabulous family trip. I've been to Italy and have also taken photos of the tile work hoping to recreate a quilt of those designs when I return home. We traveled to Finland two summers ago after my mother died to reconnect with family there. My mother has about 200 cousins and their offspring. We didn't meet all of them, but the ones we visited gave us the feeling of coming home to the homeland and the feeling of always being welcome to return for another visit. Happy travels!
Amy Smart says
Oh, what an amazing experience that must have been!
Anne Coleman says
Thank you for the travel guide! What a lovely trip.
Lynn says
An excellent post ! Your photos are beautiful and inspiring. I was in Italy last year and fell in love with the area around Amalfi and of course Capri. I shared your Manx quilting tutorials with my quilting club and referred them to your website. I will remind them again to check out this post. THANK YOU FOR A PLEASANT REMINDER!
Jill Brown says
Amy, what a great post! I’m so glad you shared this! We were in Japan while you were there, and I found myself taking pictures of Japanese design everywhere for my quilts—right down to the intricate manhole covers unique to each city. These will be included in my son’s (who served a church mission there) quilt. In short, I LOVED this beautiful post!!! It made me smile and marvel! Thank you!
Mary C Cardon says
Thank you for all the eye candy, Amy! Gorgeous pictures and history explained. I also, as one commenter mentioned, can't wait to see what inspired you to put a picture to fabric.
Grace says
thank you for the beautiful pictures of your trip to Italy. I went in 1988 on a tour that started in Lugano Switzerland and ended in Sorrento. It was unbelievable, I still think of all the places I saw and visited. Our tour took us to all big cities and not the small towns that you were able to visit but the floors and houses that we were able to see along the way were just as you described. I wasn't really into quilting at the time but after retiring it became gung ho! I wish my trip would have brought me to where my father was from but we were on the other coast. I can understand your feeling of the beauty you were able to enjoy.
Barbara Rosborg says
I'm going to Amsterdam soon and would love to read your comments on that trip, but the link in this newsletter goes to a trip about Paris, I believe.
Mary Stanfield says
Thank you for the travel inspiration and history of mosaic styles in Italy. I have several photos of floors, doors, business signs, etc. from several adventures in Italy. I may (or may not) admit to surreptitiously taking similar photos near “no cameras “ signs of mosaic floors at St. Marcos in Venice. 😉
Sally Hurst says
Thank you for a such a detailed and informative post on your recent trip to southern Italy. You are so generous to share all your wonderful photos
with us! I traveled there in my twenties but didn't appreciate all the
antiquities and incredible designs as I would today. I love your blog and
today's was superb!
Nancy Scheider says
Great photos and recap of your trip. Amazed at the workmanship in the tile floors. As you mentioned, it is hard enough to do in fabric much less stone! And meeting such welcoming relatives was the icing on the cake! Or maybe the nuts on the gelato!
Joanna says
Thank you Amy, for being so generous in sharing your beautiful and inspiring photos of your trip. The apparent "quilting patterns" are mind boggling; I'm afraid I would have had whiplash in trying to see just about everything! Your family will remember this trip forever!
LINDA P says
Oh my gosh, what a wonderful trip! The pictures are fabulous and you are very knowledgeable about all of it. Thank you for sharing. Well done!
Susan Shiflet says
Your pictures and stories were incredible. I have traveled to Italy but your pictures made it come alive again. Thanks so much for sharing. I love your articles. Love from an every day quilt enthusiast.
Susan
Louise says
Thank you for sharing these lovely photos and the information about each. It is inspiring! How were you able to connect with the relatives? Had your husband's grandmother stayed in touch enough that they were known to you? I'm always curious how anyone finds relatives in other countries. What a wonderful trip!
CYNDA RASH says
I have been to italy probably five times. Being a new quilter, I never thought of it as quilting designs!! i will have to open my eyes.A little bit more! I'd love to make a quilt inspired by Italy!!
Mary says
Thanks Amy - I really enjoyed this post. We spent nearly two weeks in Italy a few years ago and Eve some of the same places. I agree Italy is full of inspiration and beauty
Christine Brewer says
I love finding quilt designs/blocks as I travel! One of my quilt friends & I plan to do a quilt program for our guild about designs we have seen throughout our travels. We will also make quilts to represent that design: if I have a picture of crosses, I will also have a pattern/ quilt with crosses in it. Thank you for even more inspiration!
Helen LeBrett says
What wonderful eye-candy!! I loved seeing all the pictures and reading your commentary!! Thanks for all the time you took to share this with us! My hubby is also 100% italian (but american born) and I hope to take our kids to Italy someday: this was wonderful inspiration!! Hugs, H
Ruth Crump says
Yes! I remember doing that when I went in 2013, with time mostly spent in Florence and then Barcelona. So many great inspirations from the tile work!!
Louise says
I LOVED this article, thank you so much. Had never heard of the Cosmati name, and found the history fascinating. Truly enjoyed your trip - thanks for sharing.
Julia says
Stunning beauty in your photos! Great patterns, wonderful to see them in stone and tile. Such beautiful designs and craftsman ship. Thank you so very much for sharing and for your commentary.
Mary Jean Cunningham says
Wow! Thank you for sharing your fabulous trip! I wouldn't be looking for a quilt shop there as I'd be too busy eating and looking at everything! I am so happy for your husband to have been able to connect with his family and that your children were able to meet their relatives - an incredible experience. Thank you again for this marvelous travelogue! The artistry of the mosaics is incredible, the intricate carvings are amazing, and the ideas they give are abundant...