# 84 October 17 th 2016 aving was integrated with the local share cropping farming system , which produced silk , hemp and flax , and so rural houses often became small factory units scattered around the fields , whose products were brought to the town markets together with the produce of the fields .
The textiles produced were simple and for ordinary use , whereas the damask fabrics produced on huge Jacquard looms did not appear until the start of the 19th-century , with the work of the highly skilled “ Monachette ” ( little nuns ), a convent workshop in the Papal State that wove liturgical vestments for churches and prelates .
The “ liccetti ” weaving technique was commonly used between the 13th and the 14th century , involving the insertion of a small , thin rod to build a manual weaving pattern , similar to the pick-up sticks in modern looms .
Each decorative motif was attached to these hanging “ liccetti ”, connected to the warp by a special procedure , which practically made it a permanent weaving pattern , marking the transition from the traditional heddle loom to the jacquard loom , with its punched cards , which began to operate at the start of the 19th century .
The designs were set up on the loom using a series of strings , which allowed the simultaneous lowering of a series of warp threads corresponding to the desired decorative motif . The earliest designs were produced for the borders of altar cloths . Weaving also developed due to the variety of different locally produced materials , which included wool , cotton , linen and silk .
From the 14th century , the best craftsmen from the peninsula began to converge in the Piceno area , known throughout Italy as a major manufacturing area , where they would introduce new systems and practices .
Silk reeling and spinning , for example , were the main activities of the silk industry : in 1865 the area had 12 spinning mills , four of which were powered by steam . These products were destined for the market squares of Turin , Genoa , Milan , Lyon and Marseille . As many as 1,252 looms for flax and hemp were recorded in an 1862 survey on industrial conditions in the province of Ascoli Piceno .
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