PURPLE-RED AND WOAD BLUE ANCONA

When we think of visiting Ancona, it is natural to imagine a seaside destination overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Yet Ancona is far more than just the sea. Alongside its beautiful coastline, the capital of the Marche region offers a wealth of history, traditions, and cultural heritage waiting to be discovered.

Precisely because Ancona is not only about the sea, we recommend beginning your experience with an original guided walk through the city. This unusual itinerary reveals Ancona as the illustrious Emporium of the Adriatic — a Maritime Republic endowed with extraordinary autonomy during the late Middle Ages, whose trade routes extended across much of the Mediterranean. A true crossroads of peoples, techniques, and artistic styles, the city flourished through commerce and craftsmanship.

During the walk, you will discover how important the processing of the famous purplish-red dye was in ancient times for the Doric city. You will retrace the key stages of its production and, moving through the old town’s historic trading streets, listen to fascinating anecdotes that bring this prosperous past back to life.

The journey then leads you to meet Massimo, master of natural colours, who will welcome you into his atelier to present his botanical collection and introduce you to the fascinating world of natural dyeing. Here, ancient knowledge and experimentation come together in a contemporary rediscovery of natural pigments.

This journey explores the history of the city and its surrounding region, following the thread of the production and trade of these precious natural colours.

We will explore the production of purple dye, attested by archaeological excavations in the city, and see how in this very workshop the ancient technique of extracting purple pigment from molluscs of the Murex genus has been revived.

We will speak about dye plants and their many uses, before immersing ourselves in the history of woad and the colour blue — once the colour of power, wealth, and allure. Woad and indigo, the two plants that fuelled the fashion for blue between the 13th and the 20th centuries, travelled across centuries of trade and exchange.

Ancona was one of the main centres of this commerce. In the Middle Ages, the port city became a crucial link between East and West: woad from the Montefeltro area (in northern Marche region) was exported throughout Europe, while indigo arrived by sea from the Far East.
At a time when Venice sought to monopolise the trade of this precious colour, Ancona distinguished itself as a strategic alternative, becoming a vibrant crossroads of trade and culture.

History will be replaced by creativity!
We will dye in the dyeing vat a placemat of Marche’s hemp in woad blue following the shibori technique, an art that came from the East.
You will express your creativity and originality on a placemat that you will have to customise.
Between artistic bindings, wooden tablets, folds, and strings you will soak your placemat for a few minutes in the dye bath.
Pulling it out you will see the magic of the colour fixed on the cloth reacting with the air, and finally, you will admire your work of art!
A pleasant souvenir from a purple-red and woad blue city signed by you!