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The sperada is an head ornament typical of the North Italian tradition and in particular of the Lake Como region, widely used by women during the nineteenth century. It was composed of a set several silver hairpins forming a sunburst, threaded on the hairs wrapped on a horizontal olive-topped pin. The sperada headdress symbolizes a woman's social and civil status. This headdress is also known assperonada, guazze and raggiera (rays in english). Women in other parts of Lombardy and Piedmont, Ticino in Switzerland, and as far away as the Adriatic coast of Croatia, wore similar headdresses and pins.

Structure
The 'sperada' is composed by three kind of silver pins arranged to form a sunburst

- Spontone, a pin with two olives at its end - Spadinn (little sword) highly decorated pointed pins, given by the fiancé to his betrothed (before betrothal the girls wore hair loose) - Spazzaùrecc smaller pins, sometimes in the shape of a spoon gift of the bridegroom on the marriage day and on other special occasions as the birth of a child.

'The first time a young woman wore it was on her wedding day. Her mother-in-law, or other female relative, dressed her hair in a complex arrangement of braids, ribbons and partings which formed a horseshoe shape at the back of the head. The 45 flat silver hair pins with pierced heads were stuck into the outside edge of the horseshoe, so that they surrounded her head like a halo. The long pin, with a hollow egg-shaped head at each end, lay across the nape of the neck, supporting the horseshoe of hair. The ends of the egg-shaped pin unscrew, so that it can be taken out without disturbing the hair. The hairdo was often left in place for several days. The wearer added the pins each morning.'

A full sperada by silversmith Carlo Pirotta is on display in the jewelry section of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

I promessi Sposi
Alessandro Manzoni famously immortalized the sperada in his book 'I promessi sposi' in 1827 (Chapter II): 'Lucia had just come forth adorned from head to foot by the hands of her mother. [...] Her dark and luxuriant hair, divided on her forehead with a white and narrow parting, was united behind in many - circled plaitings, pierced with long silver pins, disposed around, so as to look like an aureola, or saintly glory, a fashion still in use among the Milanese peasant - girls.' Highly popular in the 19th century the 'sperada' ceased to be used at the beginning of the 20th century. It is believed that there are few (or no) pieces of antique silver 'sperada' available for sale. The surviving pieces are a precious heritage preserved by families, folkloric groups and public institutions.

Source
Luigi Sara, La sperada : storico ornamento delle donne lombarde, (Arcore: Etabeta, 2019)