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Vintage linens in Naples

Two years ago I stumbled across a market stall tucked into a side street behind Via Toledo in Naples. It was piled high with household linens - table cloths, napkins, pillowcases - all from somebody’s nonna. I bought some heavy linen or hemp napkins and cursed my hand luggage suitcase the whole way home.

Last year I went looking for it. Walked round and round, asked people, found nothing. I assumed it had been a one-off.

This morning I was heading back from the bookshops (I’d been picking up books for the next Studio project, Almanac) and instead of turning right along the music shop street, I went straight on. Past some bins, past a car park. And there it was.

Not quite as piled up as before, but the same stall, the same linens. Table cloths, hand towels, pillowcases, all with matching initials. A family’s dowry, sold off piece by piece.

I bought two things: a heavy linen bedspread with an elaborate red cross stitch monogram, three hand loomed strips seamed together with hand stitching (though the hems are machine stitched), and a hand-woven shift that I’d put at late 19th century, possibly very early 20th. Twenty-five euros for both. I left everything else and walked away quickly before I could regret it.

If you find yourself in Naples and want to try your luck: go along the Via Toledo to Piazza Dante, up the Via Port’Alba through the bookshops, then straight on towards Piazza Luigi Miraglia. The stall, when it’s there, is on the right. I’ve found her twice by accident on a Tuesday - I can’t tell you more than that.

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