I believe it is Irish Crochet. At that time, 1904, there were a lot of lace and embroidery schools started in Italy as part of a movement called the Industrie Femmenili. In fact, one was even started in New York among Italian immigrants in 1905, The Scuola d'Industrie Italiane. It seemed to be quite popular to start such industries to help local people and many were started by the local gentry. The local gentry were often American heiresses who had married into the aristocracy. Such was the case with the di Brazza School, started by the Countess di Brazza, former Cora Slocumb, and the School of Ranieri di Sorbello, started by the Marchesa di Sorbello, the former Romeyne Roberts. Near Sorbello was an industry that provided hand woven linen for the other industries, run by Alice Franchetti, the former Alice Hallgarten. I don't know if any of these observations relate to the school on Isola Maggiore, but the fact of its existence isn't that earthshaking given the many such industries started at around that time. I would be interested in learning more about the many lace schools and industries started in Italy in this era and the degree of American involvement They were also an outgrowth of the Arts and Crafts movement. Devon
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