The £105,000 Moretti Villa — Secreted Wealth of a Forgotten Tapestry Room

Moretti Villa’s tapestry room preserved the hush of creation paused. Here, £105,000 had been invested in imported silks, commissioned works, and finished textiles, all meticulously cataloged yet secreted, suspended between craft and commerce.

Vittorio Moretti, Tapestry Artisan and Dealer

Vittorio Moretti, born 1856 in Venice, trained as a master weaver and textile merchant.

Married to Isabella Moretti, he had two sons. His life is traceable through objects: burnished bobbins, hand-drawn patterns on vellum, ink-stained ledger pages, imported silk from Florence, and weights used to tension threads. Daily routines—loom setup at dawn, pattern checking at midday, finishing and dispatch by lamplight—left subtle imprints on benches, floors, and ledgers. His temperament was patient, exacting, and quietly proud, blending artistry with precise financial accounting.

Commissions Halted and Trade Interrupted

By 1912, political instability in Italy’s artisan markets disrupted shipments and delayed payments. Moretti’s contracts remained unfulfilled, debts mounted, and some workshops closed. The tapestry room reflects these disruptions: half-woven panels, ledgers ending mid-page, and spools left in disarray. Some textiles were quietly sold; many remain, their monetary and artistic value secreted and unresolved.

A folded note rests beneath a partially finished tapestry: “Preserve until payments resume.” Payments never resumed. Moretti Villa stands abandoned, its tapestry room intact, its ledgers unfinished, and its wealth—woven, monetary, and artistic—left secreted and unresolved.