The "Sartòri"

These old patterns gave Stefano Nicolao a strong incitement to bring this historical garment back to life

When Stefano Nicolao was working at the costumes of “Amorosa”, a film turned in Venice by Mae Zattering and presented in 1986 at the 43° International movie-festival of Venice, he carefully studied the “marinere” used in the early years of the past century, whose sombre look well matched with the darkness of the canals where the black boats, only enlightened by torches, were slowly moving along.

The austerity of the ‘800 had strictly imposed black as the only permitted colour of gondoliers, and the gondolier’s costume also was made in black woolly material, tough and water-proof for the winter months, or lighter and white for summer, and cut in military style. The discovery of these old patterns gave Stefano Nicolao a strong incitement to bring this historical garment back to life and have it adopted by the gondoliers and takes into great consideration every small detail. The tailor’s ordinance is the oldest of such trade-regulations in Venice, dating back to 1219, and the city dedicated to the “sartòri” one of the bridges and a “Fondamenta”.