In the 14th and 15th Centuries the oriental carpet was much appreciated in Siena, as in all major cities at the time. Inventories document their presence in private homes, public buildings and ecclesiastical institutions and also throw light on how they were used. More importantly, Sienese documents reveal something that sets the city apart from other places such as Florence, Genoa and Venice: an active local promotion of carpets. The artisans who made them had their own identity as "tappetai" and worked regularly in shops of "tappetai" specialized in this production.