Casentino is a valley located north of the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, which has always been suitable for the production of cloths. This is because the raw material, that is wool, was found in large quantities and at an excellent price, due to the presence of many breeding flocks. The Casentino wool makers used a fairly ordinary and bristly fiber, which over the years has been improved by various crosses between indigenous breeds of sheep and Merino breeds.

The History of Casentino wool clothes

The Casentino wool craftsmen were already active in the period prior to 1300, as evidenced by the presence of factories for the processing of woolen cloths dated to that historical period.

The woolen cloths used to produce the garments for the inhabitants of the valley were heavy, resistant, impermeable to water and snow, useful characteristics to face the cold and long winters.

The presence of streams and waterways in the area were essential for washing and dyeing the wool, and also for operating the cloth processing machinery.

Equally important was the wood, available in the woods of the valley, necessary to produce hot water to obtain natural dyes.

For a long time, the Casentino wool artisans had to abide by the rules written by the Florentine wool makers. In fact, in 1500 the Casentino cloths were subject to marking indicating the origin, in order to avoid being confused and distributed like Florentine cloths.

Features of Casentino cloth

Casentino cloth is often called “boiled wool” because through the fulling, the wool yarn is shrunk by 30%, and thus felted.

Over time, the Casentino wool makers succeeded in producing a cloth with an original orange color, which has now become characteristic.

Through the use of rock alum, useful for making the cloths waterproof, the wool artisans obtained the orange dye with an incorrect chemical process in the use of mordants and with aluminum.

Thus was born the color that traditionally is placed side by side with green. On the contrary, the dating of the curl that appears on the cloth is not known. The machinery needed to create this particular finish appears to be of French origin, and is called the napping machine.

The particularities of the Casentino cloth

Casentino cloth is a material considered “poor” but at the same time refined and sometimes even snobbish.

First, because there are still many who do not know him; second, because compared to other new generation hyper-technical materials and fabrics it is of unparalleled authenticity.

In some ways, Casentino cloth is an icon of Made in Italy, a unique pure wool fabric exported all over the world.

It is a unique experience to visit the rooms that once welcomed thousands of workers, with old looms, spinning wheels and other ancient machinery exhibited in Stia, at the Museum of the Art of Wool, together with ledgers and vintage photos.

Today, this fabric of the great Italian tradition maintains its charm and is always worked in artisan tailoring shops or by stylists such as Roberto Capucci who since 2008 has been producing a coat in Casentino cloth, pleated, to support the Textile & Sustainability project, which has become the Supply Chain of Sustainable Textile.