Old Romagna rust printing technique

History

The Old Romagna rust printing is an old craft which has been passed on orally, from generation to generation, by artisan printers. These were particularly jealous of the techniques that allowed them to create truly unusual colors, as well their wooden stamps used to print on tissues. As a consequence of the fact that this tradition has been passed on orally, the remotest and vague citation in the archives is from the first decades of the 19th century. Towards the end of the 19th century, treaties on the xylographic matrices (molds) first appeared. This old craft, namely the rural tradition of embellishing livestock brought to events with the use of tissues and drapes with rust printed on, has been described by Aldo Spallicci in the first years of the 20th century. It is likely that print on cloths represented a secondary, ancillary production of dyehouses. It is common to find, in molds, motives inspired by Roman or Byzantine, medieval, Malatestian art, or art from the principality of Carpegna, in Montefeltro, as well as motives from friezes and mosaics, ceramics, embroideries and laces in 15th and 16th century style.

Montescudo is one of the areas of origin of the Romagna rust printing craft, as it is the place of origin of the Casadei Menghi, a family of printers.

This family owned a printing house and a dyehouse in the old town. This particular craft has spread out from Montescudo in other parts of Romagna. For instance, the descendents of the Casadei Menghi family have emigrated and reached Gambettola, Bellaria-Igea Marina, where they have opened their stores. Today, in Bellaria, there is the printing house Casadei, owned by the descendents of the Casadei Menghi family, from Montescudo.

The ancient techniques: the special process behind colors and the craft of printing on cloths

A fundamental part of the work of printers is the process that leads to the creation of special colors. It seems that, in Montescudo, the most common color was dark black. The technique necessary to obtain this special color has been lost. Other common colors in Montescudo were light blue, as the woad (Isatis tinctoria), and “rotten” green. The woad is a natural dyeing plant which was treated with grinders similar to those used to make olive oil, but smaller and knurled over the perimeter, to ensure that the plant was smashed. The “ingredients” used to obtain colors were, among others, flour, vinegar, oxidized iron. All these are elements of an old craftsmanship which have been zealously kept secret. Once the color is obtained, the following step was the printing on cloths: the color was fixed on the tissue through rinses made with urine, often bovine. The processing was characterized by a nauseating smell, which nonetheless was the guarantee for marvelous colors. Normally, the printing was applied on a hemp cloth. Every family with land grew hemp. Once ripe, hemp was “beaten up” with a long stick and transformed into fiber, which women used to spin and weave, in houses, with artisanal wooden sewing frames. After the weaving, the cloths were stored after being rolled up in pieces that were about 8 meters long, which were called “torselli” and used as bed linen, blankets, tablecloths, curtains, and other pieces of household linen. In the print house of Casadei Menghi there was a mangle in order to “follare”  (that is, to make smooth) the raw and of molds. Unfortunately, almost all of them were used as firewood during World War II: only three of them have survived until this day. The colors were printed on cloths thanks to those molds, which were made of pear wood and presented handmade engravings. The wood of the molds was not knotty but soft, which made possible an easy use. The work of a printer was identifiable, within an atelier full of molds, by the sound of a hammer and the rubbing of soap, the presence of ashes and hot water, a piece of cloth on the table, ready to be embellished. All this combined with the dexterity and the mastery that can only be guided by the love for the unique piece.

Open-air Ethnographic Museum. The branch of Monte Colombo

The branch of the Ethnographic Museum of the Municipality opened its doors in 2022 and is dedicated to the old craft of the roast printers of Romagna. In the watchtower of the Castle of Monte Colombo (address: Vicolo Malatesta 2), there is an exhibition of cloths in their various traditional colors, among which there is the super rare “rotten” copper green. It is a special green that, when observed with light, can appear as closer to blue. It is also possible to see demonstrations of old processing techniques for the creation of colors printed on cloths.