Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua celebrates one hundred and fifty years of activity with an exhibition at Palazzo Venart as part of Venice Fashion Week, presenting new creations and a volume featuring previously unpublished material from the historical archives
150 Years of Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua. At Palazzo Venart, an exhibition celebrates the history and vision of one of Europe’s oldest weaving mills, active in the heart of Venice. Among hand-woven velvets and brocades crafted on eighteenth-century looms, the collection traces five centuries of creativity and presents the new Liberty velvets, the first Bevilacqua wallpaper project, the silk and metal brocade created for Venice Fashion Week 2025, and the volume Luigi Bevilacqua 150, which brings together 150 iconic fabrics from the company’s historical archive, the result of an important digitization effort that has preserved the precious heritage of mastery, creativity, and entrepreneurial ability that makes Tessitura Bevilacqua one of the global ambassadors of Made in Italy.
The exhibition is part of the Venice Fashion Week program, in Venice from October 20 to 26, and is open to visitors in the historic spaces of Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel, from October 21 to November 21, 2025.
The New Collections: Liberty Velvets, Hand-Woven Brocade, and Wallpapers
On display are three Liberty-style designs created on silk velvet: Flora intertwines dragonflies, flowers, and butterflies; Loto brings forth from the stillness of water the purity of the flower symbolizing balance and rebirth; Glicine releases cascading clusters in a waterfall of sinuous elegance.
Alongside the new designs, hand-woven brocade returns, crafted in silk and metal foils, in which the threads reflect light, giving the damask pattern a sumptuous appearance.
The palazzo’s spaces also present the first Bevilacqua wallpaper collection, illustrated with designs drawn from the historical archive, which holds more than 3,500 motifs: from Grotesques with sphinxes and fantastical figures to Renaissance patterns, from Fiere with leopards guarding the tree of life to Baroque Fioroni, to the Paradiso and Fontane & Walls lines inspired by Art Déco.
The commemorative volume accompanying the exhibition brings together historical fabrics, original design drafts, and never-before-published documents that testify to the artisan heritage of the Bevilacqua family, active in artistic weaving since 1499.
The Blue Artisan Award to the Bevilacqua Brothers
During the opening, Venezia da Vivere and Seguso Vetri d’Arte will present the The Blue Artisan 2025 award to Alberto and Rodolfo Bevilacqua. The recognition, awarded annually to artisan excellence that has successfully passed on its knowledge to new generations, will be conferred in the presence of Alessandra De Nitto from the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte.
Palazzo Venart and Master Artisans: Hotels as Ambassadors of Venetian Culture
The exhibition is part of the Master Artisans series, conceived and curated by Venezia da Vivere for Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel. Following the exhibitions dedicated to Lunardelli Venezia and wood and to Anita Cerpelloni and paper, the exhibition dedicated to Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua concludes the series, bringing to the spaces of the fifteenth-century residence overlooking the Grand Canal the continuity of Venetian textile knowledge.
Palazzo Venart has embraced this project by recognizing the invaluable worth of Venetian craftsmanship as an integral part of the city’s identity. The historic residence serves as an ambassador of beauty, connecting its guests to Venice’s artisan excellence through experiences that tell stories of history and mastery.
“The cultural projects and events curated by Venezia da Vivere create unique pathways for an audience seeking authenticity, interested in discovering firsthand the work of artisans and their creations,” says Lorenzo Cinotti, curator of the Master Artisan project.
A Tradition Spanning Centuries
Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua was officially founded in 1875 by Luigi Bevilacqua and Giovanni Battista Gianoglio, with roots reaching back to 1499 when the name of Giacomo Bevilacqua, weaver, appeared in the cartouche of a painting by Giovanni Mansueti. Today, safeguarding and renewing this heritage are brothers Rodolfo, president and head of production, and Alberto Bevilacqua, managing director, together with cousins Gianpaolo and Emanuele Bevilacqua.
In the weaving mill’s workshops, on the same original eighteenth-century looms from the Venetian Silk School, the soprarizzo velvets, the most precious in the world, are hand-woven.
Transmitting Knowledge: A Commitment of Venice Fashion Week
Twenty-one students from ITS Marco Polo in Art Moving and Set-Up Manager, coordinated by instructor Elisa Monaci, collaborated with Venice Fashion Week, learning to manage every aspect of a major event, designing and creating the installations for several exhibitions and events of the festival.
For the exhibition at Palazzo Venart, they designed and created, together with the Tessitura Bevilacqua creative team, a sustainable installation, designed to be dismountable, reusable, and easily transportable. A concrete project that combined theory, design, and manual skills in the context of a fifteenth-century palazzo.
150 Years of Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua
Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel
Calle Tron 1961, Santa Croce – Venice
Until November 21, 2025
Visits are by appointment: info.venart@ldchotels.com +39 041 5233784
Venice Fashion Week
It is a project conceived and curated since 2013 by Venezia da Vivere, a digital communication, events, and projects company whose mission is to support talent and promote Venice as an ideal city in which to live and create.
Venice Fashion Week has the patronage of:
City of Venice, Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Tavolo Veneto della Moda, Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, Università Iuav di Venezia.
Main Partners
Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua, Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel.
Partners
Upskill 4.0 – spin-off of Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Fondazione Giancarlo Ligabue, ITS Marco Polo Academy, Seguso Vetri d’Arte, Orsoni Venezia 1888, Kolding School of Design, City of Gdańsk, Amberif International Amber and Jewelry Fair, Fondazione La Via dell’Ambra, Libreria La Toletta, CreativeMornings Venice, Lightbox, Antonio dei Rossi, Alwaysupportalent, Associazione Piazza San Marco.
We thank
Palazzo Keller, Palazzo Nani Mocenigo, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Galeries Bartoux Venezia, Venice Gardens Foundation, Seguso Vetri d’Arte, Bellini Canella.
The poster is designed by artist and illustrator Jacopo Ascari.
www.venicefashionweek.com
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Venice Fashion Week is a project by Venezia da Vivere © Raccontare Venezia Srls.
