What exactly is merletto al tombolo? Well, it is a very old art form that harks back to the age of Caterina de' Medici. It is an antique way of making lace by hand. Anna Maria Gherardi, who lives in Arezzo, has done this type of work since she was a girl and during her childhood, Debora remembers hearing the noise the spools of the threads made always in the background as her mom worked on her roundtable creating pieces of lace that she put together later to make things like napkins and tablecloths.