This unique piece of needlework belonged to my mother who recently gave it to me. She had been given it by a family friend, Carolina Morelli (“Signora Morelli”), a neighbor when my mother was a child in Rome. The Neapolitan Signora Morelli used to fold her nightgown into the cotton envelope, or portapigiama (pajama-carrier), and place it in the middle of her made bed during the day. The needlework style featured here is intaglio. I suspect it was part of her trousseau.