In 1870 Luigi Cipriani (first generation), son of craftsmen from historical Anagni, moved to Ceccano, a village near Frosinone, which lies south of Rome, in the Lazio region.
It was here that Luigi Cipriani started his activity as upholsterer serving local bourgeois and aristocrats. Then provincial upholsterers had very hard times: customers were few and, to make things worse, there was the rooted habit of including textiles such as curtains, bed covers, pillows, linings and the like in the brides-to-be trousseaus, traditionally hand-made by female relatives and close friends.
Consequently upholsterers in provincial areas were forced to diversify their skills. Luigi chose to specialise as a mattress maker, a seddlar and also maker of carriage upholstery.
These activities earned him a reputation as one of the most skilled upholsterers particularly in the manufacture of leather upholstered pieces of furniture and leather seats with helicoidal springs.
Domenico (second generation) inherited his father's craftsmanship and passed it over to his son Vincenzo (third generation).
Feeling the constraints involved with working in small Ceccano, Vincenzo Cipriani decided to move to Rome where he initially worked at Ducrot and then at Panunzi's, both suppliers of the Italian royal family. It was thanks to his experience with Panunzi that Vincenzo could perfect his skill at working leather and buttoned leather furniture.
In the late 20s Vincenzo left Panunzi and opened his own shop in the residential area of Parioli. However he and Panunzi established a relationship of mutual esteem which eventually turned into friendship to the point that Vincenzo finally became the moral heir of the legacy left by Panunzi: he was the custodian of the Panunzi catalogues which are now collected together with the Cipriani archive.
Both the collections are a remarkable testimony of the evolution of the art of upholstery along the 19th century.

Following you will find some photographs taken from the aforesaid collections. They have been arranged in chronological order and are all accompanied by a description.

Tables with the project and the scheme - showing how to cut the drapery - of a French Empire style curtain, much in fashion in the early 20th century. These pictures have served as a guide for Luigi Cipriani to manufacture a replica. However in the replica curtain the stylistic elements proper of the French Empire style have been given more emphasis so as to make the curtain more in line with the style of the room it is to adorn: one in a French Empire building in Rome.