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The 'spalliera' (plural 'spalliere') is the Italian word for the back of a bench or settle, or the headboard or footboard of a bed, or any similar vertical attachment of a piece of furniture such as was commonly painted in Italy, and especially it seems in Tuscany, during the 15th century. Most cassoni originally had spalliere attached to them and many 15th-century Tuscan paintings are likely to have originally served as such.