“If you have a dream and we can make it come true, we’ll do our best,” Sister Maria Laura said.
(Nadia Shira Cohen for the New York Times)
CASCIA, Italy — The seamstress gently fastened the ivory-colored silk-covered buttons of the lace corset. She took out the embroidered veil and laid it over the bride-to-be’s long black hair. Girlfriends and family members watched in silence, their eyes glistening.
“If you have a dream and we can make it come true, we’ll do our best,” said Sister Maria Laura, a cloistered Augustinian nun and onetime seamstress.
In a country synonymous with designer fashions, Sister Maria Laura runs one of Italy’s most unlikely ateliers at the St. Rita monastery, a medieval complex perched in the central Umbrian hills.
Gaia Pianigiani reports on the brisk bridal business at St. Rita monastery for the New York Times.