RETICELLA

(Italian: little net), Renaissance fabric, akin to lace, with an open, gridlike pattern. The grid base for the pattern is formed either by threads remaining after warps and wefts have been drawn out of a fabric at regular intervals or by threads thrown across a space cut out of a fabric. Reticella is frequently cited as the immediate forerunner of /a>punto in aria (q.v.), the first true lace.