Dustin Hoffman, walking around Lucca where he shoots the new film, fascinated by the art therapy laboratory as a form of psychiatric rehabilitation

Dustin Hoffman has been for a few days in Lucca to shoot Peter Greenaway’s film ‘Lucca mortis’, which begins shooting tomorrow and in which the two-time Oscar winner plays a New York writer who takes a sabbatical to visit Lucca, rediscovering his Italian origins. He shows himself around, in bars and shops. So much so that even the local health authority issued a press release stating that Hoffman, together with his wife Lisa Gottsegen, was literally “fascinated by ‘La Tela di Penelope’, a cooperative activity born 10 years ago in Lucca from a collaboration between the mental health department of the ASL and the cultural association for social promotion Archimede which uses art therapy as a form of psychiatric rehabilitation, taking up ancient textile techniques with looms”.

Hoffman, with his wife, entered the shop last night in the historic center of the city, in via S.Andrea, which displays the loom works of ‘Penelope’s canvas’ created by mental health users. For Melissa Mori, shop assistant and weaver, reports the ASL, “she was truly a nice surprise”. The couple, who were accompanied by the translator, “showed great interest in the yarns and original products. They learned about how work on the loom is carried out and also about mental health rehabilitation programs“.

“It was a very emotional meeting – says Melissa -. Dustin Hoffman and his wife stayed in the shop for a long time and interacted with me, from the beginning, with great simplicity. The actor also asked me a question curious: what part of the body is most stressed by the loom activity? I told him that it was definitely the shoulders. He really appreciated the place: he gave us many compliments, saying that we do an excellent job work and willingly lent himself to a souvenir photo, which he himself wanted to take in front of the loom. It is clear that he is eager to discover new things and that he likes Lucca, with its history and its traditions. His wife Lisa chose and ordered some custom-made productswith very particular designs: they will come back here to collect them as soon as they are ready”.

The ‘La Tela di Penelope’ cooperative has been present in the center of Lucca since 2014. The mental health users who undergo a rehabilitation process there have essentially transformed themselves into canvas artisans, able to offer unique products made with natural consistencies of different types of fibres: cashmere, hemp, linen, wool, silk, silver threads.