This Textile Tradition from Romagna Began in Homes and Evolved into Design

In the district of Santarcangelo di Romagna, hand block printing was born long before the mallet struck the wooden printing block. Its history begins in the flax and hemp fields, continues through the retting ponds and into the homes where fibres were spun and woven. The work then moved into workshops, where craftsmen built machinery, carved printing blocks and forged metal tools. Printing was the final step in a much broader production chain, one that had developed over centuries through agriculture, domestic labour and artisanal knowledge.

 

Rather than an industrial district in the modern sense, the Romagna printed textiles represent a territorial network of workshops and specialised skills. In 2024, the local trade association brought together eleven printing workshops across Romagna and Montefeltro.

 

One of the symbols of this heritage is the mangano, the traditional pressing machine preserved by Stamperia Marchi. A municipal document records that on 17 March 1633 permission was granted to build the machine in Santarcangelo. This date confirms the existence of the pressing process, while the earliest documented evidence of traditional rust printing dates, according to ISPRA, to the first decades of the nineteenth century.

 

Before reaching the workshop, the fabric underwent a long sequence of processes. After harvesting, drying and retting flax and hemp came combing, spinning and weaving. Research into rural culture highlights the central role played by women, who determined how much hemp would be spun and transformed it into cloth, household linen and bridal trousseaus. Between February and March, weaving occupied many hours of the day and often continued into the evening.

 

The finished cloth was then taken to the mangano, where it was wound around large rollers and compressed until it became smooth, compact and glossy, ready to receive the printed design. The next stage was wood carving. Printing blocks were mainly made from pear wood, which is soft enough to carve while remaining durable enough to withstand repeated blows from the wooden mallet. Every block combined drawing, woodworking and the precision of wood engraving.

Preparing the printing paste also required extensive technical knowledge. The traditional rust-coloured mixture combines oxidised iron, wine vinegar, iron sulphate and wheat flour, following recipes carefully preserved and handed down by each workshop. The colour was applied to the carved block, transferred onto the fabric and permanently fixed through drying and washing.

 

Roosters, caveje, vines, grape clusters, wheat ears and animals all tell the story of the agricultural world from which these motifs originated. They evoke harvests, fertility, protection and family prestige. The caveja, for example, was the iron pin connecting the yoke to the cart, and among the 130 examples preserved at the MET Museum of Santarcangelo, its practical function, sound and symbolic meaning coexist. Other decorative motifs were inspired by brocades, embroidery and luxurious textiles, bringing patterns traditionally associated with expensive fabrics onto everyday household linens.

 

The transition to contemporary design began when these motifs ceased to be seen merely as decorative ornaments and became design elements once again. This is exemplified by the collaboration between Federico Cina and Stamperia Marchi, which brought grapes, roosters, pomegranates and wheat ears onto garments and contemporary surfaces.

 

The motifs remain recognisable, but their scale, rhythm and purpose have changed. They now appear on clothing, interact with new silhouettes and acquire meanings different from their original function. In this way, tradition is not simply reproduced—it becomes a living design language that continues to evolve.

 

Today, the entire supply chain is no longer fully confined to the local territory. Federico Cina himself has explained that not all of the fabrics used are produced in Romagna. However, the printing process, creative direction and an important part of the manufacturing remain rooted in the area between Rimini and Cesena. It is precisely within this dialogue between memory and innovation that the knowledge behind Romagna's printed textiles finds a new purpose, bringing together local identity, material culture and contemporary design.