Paper Craft and Bookbinding

In Tuscany paper crafts have their capital in Firenze, where from the nineteenth century binderies and signature stationers flourished: Florentine marbled paper — colours that float on water and fix themselves on the sheet in unique patterns — is a mark of the city, exported and copied all over the world. The workshops still active in the historic centre (the Santa Croce area, the Oltrarno) produce marbled papers, hand-bound notebooks, covered boxes, diaries and desk objects to this day. Lucca has a tradition of historic paper mills tied to the territory of the Lucchesia, where fine paper for publishers and booksellers has been made since the Middle Ages (the area of Capannori and Villa Basilica still has working mills, some of them with traditional processes). Pescia, in the province of Pistoia, is home to the Museo della Carta (paper museum) and is a historic centre of paper production — today mainly industrial, but with interesting artisan survivals.

Doing it today is a wager against dematerialisation. Digital has enormously reduced the demand for paper products, and large retailers sell notebooks and diaries at prices the artisan cannot come near. But precisely for that reason the upper segment is vital: whoever is looking for the handmade notebook, real marbled paper, the leather-bound book as an important gift, is willing to pay for genuine quality. The Florentine workshops live largely on discerning tourism — international visitors who recognise the value — and on online sales to foreign markets. Book restoration is another vital strand: libraries, archives and collectors always need expert hands to recover old books.