Puncetto Lace

"Puncetto lace” is traditionally from the Valsesia area, a mountain valley in northern Italy. Its exact origins are not known, but it is believed the lace came about as a result of the invasion of Saracens in the 10th century because it closely resembles the delicate filigree decorative patterns of Arab art from that time. The first known example of puncetto lace dates from the 16th century when a man named Gaudenzio Ferrari, a very famous and reknowned artist from Valsesia adorned a statue of the Virgin Mary with this lace. Years later, artists working in the Varallo Sacred Mountain Chapel painted examples of this lace to embellish the plain costumes the figures appearing in the popular every day life scenes they were creating. The popularity of the lace reached its height during the XIXth century, when Queen Margaret of Savoy, an admirer of Valsesia district, introduced it at her court, among her ladies-in-waiting. The lace soon spread to France and Great Brita