Editor’s Note
This editor’s note introduces “Ornamenta: Treasures of Elegance and Identity in Ossola,” an exhibition running from July 19 to October 25, 2026, across three venues in Domodossola and Santa Maria Maggiore. The show highlights jewelry, textiles, costumes, and artworks that capture the region’s aesthetic heritage, with a focus on Ossola’s goldsmithing tradition at Palazzo San Francesco.
From July 19 to October 25, 2026, three venues in Domodossola and Santa Maria Maggiore will host “Ornamenta: Treasures of Elegance and Identity in Ossola,” an exhibition dedicated to jewelry, textiles, costumes, and works of art that reflect the region’s aesthetic sensibilities.
The first section, housed at Palazzo San Francesco, explores the Ossola goldsmithing tradition and its relationship with the international scene. On display are works, tools, and materials linked to several important local artisanal enterprises, including the Parisian house Nicolaj Factory. The exhibition features several items symbolic of local identity, such as garnet necklaces, “dorini,” the “croce à la Jeannette,” Ossola earrings, the “mulèta,” and the “Spilla Margherita,” which are juxtaposed, whenever possible, with contemporary paintings in which these same objects are depicted. Alongside the jewelry are plaster models, original and previously unpublished preparatory drawings, and tools used in goldsmithing. The narrative is rounded out with clothing, hats, fabrics, shoe buckles, breeches buckles, and belt buckles, fabric molds, and mannequins produced in the late 19th century.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, the result of research conducted in parallel with the exhibition. Scholars from various disciplines contributed to the volume: Silvia Malaguzzi, an art historian specializing in jewelry, analyzes the relationship between Ossola jewelry and the French region; Cinzia Oliva and Gian Luca Bovenzi explore textiles and lace; Enrico Rizzi and Gian Vittorio Moro reconstruct, through archival documents, the region’s artistic and commercial exchanges; Paola Caretti examines goldsmith workshops and traditional costumes. Among the contributors is Olivier Mellerio, a representative of the historic Parisian jewelry house Mellerio, who contributed to the catalog as a tribute to his family’s Vigezzo origins.
From July 19 to October 25, 2026, the “Gian Giacomo Galletti” Civic Museums in Palazzo San Francesco, Casa De Rodis in Domodossola, and the Vecchio Municipio Cultural Center in Santa Maria Maggiore (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola) will host the exhibition “Ornamenta. Treasures of Elegance and Identity in Ossola,” a project promoted and organized by the Municipality of Domodossola to explore the region’s aesthetic sensibilities at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries through an exhibition featuring objects, works of art, clothing, and accessories. Curated by Federico Troletti, curator of the Domodossola Civic Museums, the exhibition is presented in partnership with the Angela Paola Ruminelli Foundation and in collaboration with the Municipality of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Poscio Collection, and the Domodossola Pro Loco. The opening is scheduled for Saturday, July 18, at 4:00 p.m. in the Mellerio Chapel in Domodossola.
The project stems from the Civic Museums’ research and efforts to promote the cultural heritage of the Ossola region, with the aim of exploring the ethnographic, commercial, and artistic ties that have contributed to the development of a distinctive local concept of elegance. The exhibition spans three locations in the region, each with its own distinct identity: Domodossola, featuring Palazzo San Francesco and Casa De Rodis; and Santa Maria Maggiore, the heart of the Vigezzo Valley, historically known as the “Valley of the Painters” due to the presence of numerous artists.
“Ornamenta” offers a comprehensive exploration through three key themes: faces, jewelry, and textiles. The exhibition brings together artifacts crafted in Ossola or by Ossolan artisans using various artistic techniques, alongside paintings, photographs, and documents, providing a snapshot of local society and, in particular, women’s fashion. Following this in-depth exploration of festive attire, the exhibition continues at Casa De Rodis with a section curated by the Poscio Collection dedicated to workwear.
