How to use a mezzaro at home: six ways and the right sizes

A mezzaro is a large panel of cloth. That is the first thing to say, because it decides everything else: how big it is determines what you can do with it. In our shop in Rome, the question we hear most often is not “which pattern do you recommend” but “will it cover a double bed?”. This guide answers that question, and the five that follow it.

What is a mezzaro?

The mezzaro is a large printed cotton panel that was born in Genoa in the seventeenth century, in imitation of the painted Indian cottons arriving in the port. The name comes from the Arabic mi'zar, “veil, covering”: for two centuries Genoese women wore it over head and shoulders. Today it has left the wardrobe and moved into the home.

Ours are still printed by hand in India, in the villages of Rajasthan and Gujarat, using block printing: one carved teak block for each colour in the design, pressed onto the cotton by hand thousands of times. 100% cotton, natural dyes, finished by hand with a matching cotton cord or a printed border.

See all our hand block printed mezzari.

What size do you need for a bed?

Pictured: the Azzurro d'Oriente mezzaro as a bedspread.

This is the most common use, and the one where the wrong size costs you. Our four sizes, and what each is for:

• 270 × 270 cm, the king size square: double bed

• 225 × 350 cm: large sofas

• 225 × 270 cm: small double beds, sofas of ordinary size

• 180 × 270 cm, the historic size of the mezzaro: single bed

On a double bed the right size is the 270 × 270 square: it is the only one that falls with the same drop on all three open sides, without coming up short at the foot. The 180 × 270 is the historic size — it was made to cover a standing person, not a bed — and on a double bed it sits, but it does not hang.

If your bed is a non-standard size, the practical rule is: measure the mattress and add at least 40 centimetres per side, more if it is tall or if two of you sleep under a duvet.

On the sofa

A mezzaro on a sofa does two things at once: it changes the colour of the room and it protects the upholstery underneath. For large sofas the size is 225 × 350; for a two or three seater of ordinary size, 225 × 270 is enough.

If the sofa is pale and neutral, the cloth becomes the thing you look at: choose a design with full, saturated colour. If the sofa is already coloured or patterned, a mezzaro in tones close to the wall works better — it softens instead of competing.

One detail nobody considers: hand printed cotton creases. On a sofa in daily use that is part of the effect, not a fault — but if you want a taut, tidy surface, the bed is the better place.

Pictured: the Palazzo di Jaipur mezzaro as a sofa cover.

To finish the look: our printed cotton cushions.

At the window

Curtains in printed cotton do not black out a room: they filter it. The light passing through the design lights it up and throws its colour onto the floor — that is the effect worth having in a room you live in during the day. They work where privacy is not the main concern: living room, kitchen, study. In a bedroom, if you need darkness, pair them with a blackout blind.

See our hand printed cotton curtains.

On the table

This is where printed cotton is at its best in summer, when the table is laid lightly. Three formats, three different uses:

• A full tablecloth, round or rectangular, when the table is the centrepiece

• A runner, when you want to see the wood and only need a band of colour

• Placemats, for everyday use: they wash on their own and change often

The simplest way not to get the pairing wrong is to stay with the same design in two different formats: a runner and placemats in the same pattern, for instance.

Pictured: the Bhagat Blu mezzaro as a tablecloth: on a table, a mezzaro becomes a table cover too.

On the wall

Hung on a wall, a mezzaro works like a tapestry, and on an empty wall it solves in an afternoon a problem that usually takes pictures, frames and drilling. All you need is a wooden rod through a sleeve sewn on the back, or two discreet hooks at the top corners. It also works behind a bed as a soft headboard — the solution we recommend most often to people renting who cannot drill.

How to wash it

In the machine, cold or at 30 degrees at most, with a gentle detergent. No bleach, no violent spin. On tablecloths, treat stubborn stains with a mild stain remover before washing.

These are textiles made to be used, not stored. A mezzaro that after ten years is a little softer and a little less bright has not been ruined: it has been made.

More practical answers on sizes, shipping and returns in our frequently asked questions.

About the imperfections

On a hand printed panel you will sometimes find a line slightly out of register, a deeper shade in one corner, a small skip in the border. These are not production faults: they are the sign that the cloth passed under a wooden block held by a hand, not under a roller.

A fabric in which every repeat is identical to the last one was printed by machine. If that is what you are looking for, ours are not for you.

Where to start

If this is your first mezzaro, our advice is to start with the bed, in the 270 × 270 square, and with a design from the Tree of Life collection — the historic Genoese motif, the one everything else came from.

If you want to see them in person, we are in Rome at Viale Parioli 21: the colours of hand printed cotton in the flesh are a different thing from any photograph. How to find us.