Photo Exhibit Highlights Traditional Costumes of Italian Sister City

As a part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Pettoranello del Molise and Princeton Township, Princeton Township is exhibiting an extensive collection of photographs of the traditional costumes of the many villages of the region of Molise, Italy.

The photographs, on loan from the Cultural Ministry of the Region of Molise, will be on display between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the Princeton Township Municipal Complex for the month of July.

The loan of the photographs was arranged by the Princeton/Pettoranello Sister City Foundation, founded in July 1992. The Foundation plays and important role in the Princeton community, sponsoring Pettoranello Gardens in Community Park North, the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra, scholarships for graduating seniors at Princeton High School who have excelled in their Italian studies, and contributing a comprehensive collection of Italian books, CDs, DVDs and magazines to the World Language Center at the Princeton Public Library. 

In Italy, each region has different folkloric costumes that represent a cultural heritage that is rich of tradition and history.

The impetus for the collection that is represented by these photographs originated with the desire to rediscover and document the traditions of the Region of Molise, and to help to tell the customs and ways of its people. In Molise, as in other regions of Italy, it is tradition to bury the deceased in their traditional garments. As a result many traditional costumes have disappeared. It took two years and much research to locate and photograph the examples shown in the exhibit.

There are traces of Spanish, Bulgarian, Slavic and Albanian influences in these costumes as populations from these regions have lived at one time in Molise.

In the 16th century Molise was ruled by the kingdom of Naples, which in turn was under the control of the French Bourbon rulers. At that time the first factories for the production of precious fabrics were established in Molise.

The garments are adorned with accessories and the accessories indicate the social class of the wearer. The decorations on women’s skirts tell whether a woman is single, married or a widow. The head covers were decorated with heavy pins and other ornaments. Wedding dresses were covered with ribbons, laces and precious jewels.

Men also had accessories that indicated their status. For example, an engaged man carries or wore a white handkerchief embroidered with red love sentences that had been given to them by their finances.

For additional information about the Princeton/Pettoranello Sister City Foundation, please contact the Foundation at 120 John Street, Suite 3, Princeton, NJ 08542, or at 609-921-7911.