Over 200 photographs of Italian regional costumes and scenes of country life that Elisa Guastalla (Mantova 1858-Torino 1945), wife of Corrado Ricci's second wedding, collected as an illustrative compendium to her research on the history of embroidery, weaving and traditional costume.

A passionate and prolific scholar of the applied arts and especially of female crafts, from the early twentieth century Elisa published a large number of articles in magazines and newspapers, in which he used to sign with the pseudonym of "Aracne", the very skilled weaver of classic mythology. He also wrote many monographs on the subject, some of which were translated into English.

Images share a great historical value as testimonials of Italian traditions and culture between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the following century, when Italy deeply maintained its own regional traditions, of which today we have often lost memory.