Casentino è arrivato

CASENTINO WOOL, A TUSCAN TRADITION

Known to avid followers of style blogs, people who have visited Florence in winter and Florentines, Casentino is not for the faint hearted, even less so in this traditional “Goose beak” colour. It makes a statement and then some, and then some again. Traditionally lined in wool, our version is a little more fitted, a little more elegant and with double vents easier to sit down in while basking in the winter sun, sipping an espresso at Gilli on Piazza della Repubblica (toscanello optional).

The look would not be complete without peccary gloves, another Florentine specialty – we are probably the only place that stocks four colours in the United Kingdom (so three more colours than anybody else).

For those who have the “palle”, goose beak, otherwise also available to order in chestnut, chocolate, bottle green, navy…..

Becco d’oca Casentino overcoat lined in wool                    £1495.00

Purple Casentino double breasted overcoat                      £1395.00

Milanese blue vintage cotton shirt                                   £  195.00

Cashmere neck scarf                                                      £    95.00

Peccary gloves handmade in England                              £  205.00

A short history of Casentino Wool

In the 14th century, a thick wool cloth was produced in the Casentino valley of Tuscany. The Florentine wool guild commissioned producers in this area to carry out a finishing process for them, but prohibited them from making highly refined wools for themselves in order to prevent competition to Florence and Prato’s wool industries, Casentino wool was used for monks’ habits, to cover animals, and was worn by peasants. The rough but warm cloth came originally in brown and dark grey.

In the mid 19th century, with the industrial revolution, they experimented with synthetic colouring, an error led to the creation of a bright orange (becco d'oca – GOOSE BEAK) wool that became characteristic of this fabric. With time, it became very fashionable, and other colours were introduced, including the second most common Casentino colour, a green the hue of the felt on pool tables. By the 1950s Casentino fabric was in high fashion, worn by aristocrats and actors as a symbol of Italian fashion.

The characteristic curls on the surface of Casentino cloth, which make it warm, water repellent, seem at first glance to be piling, but were originally a manual carding process using dried thistles inserted inside the loom. The industrial process replaced thistles with metal combs, which produced the same effect.