“La Bottega dell’Artigianato”, Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita’s Articraft Shop is similar to an domestic space used traditionally by the woman characterized by the big loom located in the center of it.
Inside an eighteenth-century noble palace in the historic Civita district of the Sassi of Matera, the Bottega dell’Artigianato Domestico was established to revive one of the city’s lesser-known cultural traditions.
Part of the Sextantio restoration project, dedicated to preserving and reinterpreting the material and immaterial culture of the Sassi, the workshop gives voice and continuity to traditional crafts, transforming them into a living, shared experience.
On a 1950s foot-operated loom works the artisan Marianna D’Aquino, whose creations draw inspiration from local textile traditions — clothing, blankets, cushions, and grain sacks — and are made of cotton and linen in natural shades.
Visitors can purchase objects of material culture that furnish the rooms, from glass bottles to ceramic cups, along with self-produced and antique fabrics. Some pieces, rooted in the Matera hills, result from ethnographic research on historical memory.
Sextantio also organizes frame-loom weaving courses for beginners and creatives, to guide participants in learning the technique and rediscovering, today, the authentic vitality of an ancient craft.
Info, classes and orders: bottegamatera@sextantio.it
