For the first time in the world the visitors can admire the most ancient evidence of weaving: terra cotta fragments from Bohemia marked with the print of the wool textile knitted 25.000 years ago.
They can also discover the extraordinary ram of the III sec. B. C. owned by the tyrant Ierone of Siracusa: this is the only existing Hellenistic bronze piece out of a couple situated in the Middle Age at the entrance of the Maniace Castle in Siracusa. To be exposed the bronze ram was cleaned and polished and will be restored by the same laboratories that are working on the Lupa Capitolina of Rome.
Important and astonishing Works will tell the Myth and the history of wool thorough the centuries.
The legend of the Golden Fleece will be revealed in the drawings of Thiry Leonard from the Leida Museum while its last representation, the Golden Toson, garnishes the neck of Philip III in the portrait by Roger van der Weyden from the Gemaldegalerie of Berlin.
The portrait of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach from the Uffizi Gallery, dressed in a deeply symbolic black wool, faces the catholic, powerful and "Golden Toson" emperor Charles V by Bernart Van Orley coming from the Capodimonte National Gallery.
These works together with the others displayed from Luca Giordano to Odillon Redon show the creative path of history, myth and costume.
A section is dedicated to important manuscripts and ancient documents: from the Ambrosiana Lybrary in Milan, the Code G301 including illuminated pages illustrating the monks knitting wool in its different stages.
Before the Industrial Revolution, knitting took place in the house. This is pictured by the painting "Filatrici" by Longhi from the Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia in Venice.
Visitors can also admire an unusual wardrobe with the coats of the Duke of Windsor, Winston Churchill, J.F. Kennedy, Gianni Agnelli and M. Gorbachov and the poncho of Garibaldi.
Through hand made woollens the history of humanity is told and represented.
The pre-Columbian Andes population used coloured wool threads for their Quipu: proper texts where wool becomes writing. The red woollen shirts of Garibaldi' s soldiers were both symbol of belongings and declaration of a political ideal and of a stream of thoughts.
In the same way the Andes ponchos and the woollen sweaters of Aran are proper languages, messages of belongings or greetings.
Wool also becomes a house in the Berber tent and the yurta of the Central Asia steppes.
The final part of the exhibition investigates the theme of elegance proceeding from the roman orator interpreted by Michelangelo Pistoletto to the collection of photographic portraits, some of which inedited, collected by the director of Vogue Mrs Franca Sozzani.
In this section the curator Gianmaurizio Ferzoni underlines the importance of the moth that represents the wool' s main enemy. The hall is realised with the scientific support of Nuncas, Italian firm specialised in high quality products for the house and the wool and official sponsor of the exhibition.
