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Manual skills
was less refined and limited above all to the rural market of well-off farmers and country clergy, as well as the markets of nearby regions, such as eastern Slovenia, Istria, Dalmatia and inland Croatia. But it was always in Idrija that in 1876 what was probably the fi rst lay school of lace was founded thanks to the intuition and extraordinary capabilities of another special woman, Ivanka Ferjancic. The school witnessed the birth of a productive monoculture inside the world of lace. The school is still operating in the Slovenian city, even though with a lower didactic activity (it is called Cipkarska Sola Idrija, and caters mostly for primary school pupils). In the meantime, in the socalled historical Friuli, Cora Slocomb, a brave American lady born in New Orleans who moved to Brazzacco's sweet hills when she married Count Detalmo Savorgnan di Brazzà, founded the bobbin lace Scuole Cooperative di Brazzà, spurred by her philanthropic passion and by the possible economic and social effects of her initiative. She was in fact appalled by the terrible situation of Friuli's economy at that time, after the hasty reunion to Italy, and suffered to see the striking backwardness off Friulian k d F i li country life, where people were impoverished by terrible famines and debilitated by the then endemic pellagra. These schools provided a means of subsistence to the women without taking them away from the work in the fields and at home and created an artisanal activity so widespread that together with Gorizia and Idrija it gave life to an enormous production basin that spread almost uninterrupted to Udine, in the East. The success of Friuli lace at the World's Columbian Exposition of Chicago in 1893 and the acknowledgements received at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 brought about an increase in production. As a consequence, Friuli lace, considered of a great manufacturing quality and with special peculiarities, found their most important diffusion point in Rome and then turned towards important customers in several European countries. After 1920, when the Brazzacco school was closed, the Scuola di Merletti in Fagagna was still operating. It had been founded in 1892 as a public institution under the patronage of Countess Cora, and had amongst its protagonists personalities such as the teacher Angelica Marcuzzi, beloved by her students
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for her teaching ability as well as for being an exceptional teacher of life and a reference for their women’s expectations; Noemi Nigris, a benefactress who followed in Cora's footstep thanks to her indomitable character and talent, succeeding in overcoming the terrible time of the first World war and animated, in the post-war time, numberless cultural, social and humanitarian initiatives; the nun Rosina who come from Cantù and was a bobbin lace expert, managed the Fagagna school from 1930 to 1970, when the school was closed because the professional and personal perspectives it offered were no longer in line with the economic and social situation of those years. At present, the Scuola dei Corsi Merletti in Gorizia is the reference point of the culture of lace in Friuli, alongside with Cjase Cocèl, the seat of the Museo della Vita Contadina in Fagagna, where a schoolroom was recreated, and several courses are organised by the school itself. Founded in 1946 to compensate for the loss of the Idrija school when the city though very close to Gorizia - was incorporated into the new Republic of Yugoslavia, this school was managed by the Ministry off Ed Education h Mi i i till 1978, when the control of the Scuola Merletti in Gorizia was harded over to the direct administration of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. At present the school – managed by its own board and directed by Giovanna Vesci – co-ordinates 62 courses scattered in 37 Friuli Venezia Giulia communes, and has 800 students coming from the whole region, as well as from Slovenia and Austria. It is the only Italian public school to offer a master lacemaker diploma. The course lasts six years, including the acquisition of the techniques and the practical training necessary to master the art of bobbing lace-making, as well as history of art and indispensable lace designer courses. Beside promoting and protecting the local tradition, it owns the “Merletto Goriziano Scm-Fvg” collective trade mark, thanks to which it warrants nature, quality and origin of the lace made with bobbins and offers a tangible certification to its school leavers. Every two years the school organises the international contest “Il merletto di Gorizia”, to evaluate new expressive techniques, innovate the traditional signs, explore the market and find new application fields for lace.
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