The “Opera del Tombolo” was founded in Mirabella Imbaccari by Angelina Auteri, a noblewoman from Catania, whose husband was a member of the family that owned the fief of Imbaccari, from which the town originated.
The “Opera del Tombolo” was a social institution that taught the girls of the village the art of this particular lace in order to help them improve their living conditions.
The very fine fabric is obtained by weaving a cotton thread and a linen thread with the help of wooden bobbins that are moved on a kind of cushion, called “tombolo”.
Over the years this activity has become economically important, so much so that Mirabella Imbaccari has earned the title of “City of Tombolo”.
From 1961 to 1974 the Tombolo exhibition was held here and in 1986 the permanent exhibition was inaugurated.
Finally, in 2012 the Tombolo Museum was opened to the public, which collects fine laces of different types and sizes, made in different periods.
