'Torn in Two': Grantees complete restoration workshop at Atelier degli Artigianelli

Atelier degli Artigianelli Workshop, ph. F. Parretti

Atelier degli Artigianelli Workshop, ph. F. Parretti

Atelier degli Artigianelli Workshop, ph. F. Parretti

Atelier degli Artigianelli Workshop, ph. F. Parretti

Atelier degli Artigianelli Workshop, ph. F. Parretti

Ph. Viola Parretti, Workshop at Atelier degli Artigianelli

Ph. Viola Parretti, Workshop at Atelier degli Artigianelli

Four young grant-awardees of German, American, Egyptian and Slovakian descent have completed their paper restoration workshop at the Atelier degli Artigianelli in the Oltrarno. Three works by artist Lola Costa were restored: a heavily stained watercolour depicting children playing in a bamboo grove, an early pastel linked to the artist’s Egypt cruise in 1929, and a watercolour depicting Il Palmerino’s garden at sunset (torn in two). 

During the workshop, grant recipients also restored a  19th-century historical map of the estate and surrounding areas, with handwritten notes by author Vernon Lee. They also cleaned and restored architectural blueprints of the house that Vernon Lee designed at Il Palmerino, first for her friend Irene Forbes Mosse and then for herself, which include her directions for the project. 

This grant project is part of ‘A Florentine Garden: Early Women Ex-pats and Artists of Today’, a project organised by Il Palmerino Cultural Association and Calliope Arts, in conjunction with the British Institute of Florence (2024-2026).