It inaugurated on 3 July 2020 in the city at the foot of Mount Grappa an exhibition dedicated to a very particular aspect of the Middle Ages… fashion! Until March 28, 2021, “Plots of history. Dresses and fashions in the Middle Ages in Bassano del Grappa ”remains set up and can be visited at the civic tower of Bassano.
A Middle Ages to discover
Dark period to whom? The idea of the Middle Ages as a dark and culturally poor period is now cleared by contemporary historians. In fact, the aim is to underline its cultural impulses and also its economic development in terms not too dissimilar to those we know today. The theme of fashion and the creation of clothes is an example, and it is precisely what the exhibition focuses on "Story plots. Dresses and fashions in the Middle Ages in Bassano del Grappa”Curated by Cristina Mondin.
Although the concept of fashion as we understand it today is a fact born more properly with the development of industrial society, changes in the use of colors, fabrics and shapes according to taste, but also for the consolidation of a social status.
The clothes and fashions of Frederick II
A historical figure capable of embodying all of this is Frederick II of Swabia, one of the pivotal men of the Middle Ages. The emperor played an important role in the politics of the Veneto area, so much so that his presence in Bassano del Grappa in the mid-thirteenth century is also possible. It is somehow witnessed (even if only symbolically) by a fresco in Palazzo Finco, which represents a scene of courtly life.
In it, a character, to whom Frederick II himself corresponds, gives a rose to a woman, presumably his wife Isabella of England. It is certain that the emperor had political and friendly relations with Ezzelino III da Romano, one of the most important and one of the first lords of Bassano, known for his military ferocity but also (more recently) for his interest in art and beauty. This is the atmosphere that we wanted to represent within the exhibition.
Fashions, fabrics and textures
Six clothes, both male and female, are exhibited inside the exhibition. These are artifacts created ad hoc for this exhibition, therefore with today's materials and techniques. However the models have been carefully studied and deduced through iconographic evidence of the Bassanese and surroundings dated between 1200 and 1500. An example is the aforementioned fresco of Palazzo Finco, rediscovered a few years ago but of great historical and artistic interest. Two of the clothes on display are taken from it: that of the court dignitary and of the musician.
The six models are carefully narrated within the historical and economic context of Bassano at the time, however also explaining the evolution of fashion over the centuries. Next to the clothes there is also an in-depth study of the most used materials at the time, well known even today: wool, cotton, hemp, linen and silk. Thanks to a specially designed workstation, it is possible to discover the differences in the realization of the fabrics but also to test their differences in terms of materials.
The civic tower of Bassano
The exhibition fits nicely into the context of civic tower small town. A symbolic monument of Bassano, presumably built in 1200, which presents itself inside with exposed brick facades that are well linked to the exhibition dedicated to medieval fashion. The exhibition winds through the eight levels of the tower and up to the panoramic terrace. From the top of its 43 meters high it is possible to admire a 360 ° panorama that embraces not only the city of Bassano but also its surroundings, following the course of the Brenta river up to the Berici hills, the Asolo hills on the opposite side as well as the majestic slopes of Mount Grappa that extend to the north.
