On Monday, we had a fascinating tour of several of the remaining artisan workshops on the Oltrano, or other side of the Arno River. Here are fewer tourists, quiet streets, the Pitti Palace, and the Boboli Gardens. At one time, there were more than 6,000 artisans working in Florence. Today, the number is a small fraction of that as the next generations take up film or other pursuits.
Our excellent guide, Kate, was originally from London. In a familiar story, she came to Florence about 30 years ago to study art history and never left! Besides being a guide, she has an antique business and regularly spends time in Arezzo at the monthly antiques fair.
Our mission on this day was to visit the workshops of some of the artisans she knows, several of whom were her teachers. The Chief Penguin and I, to be honest, had had some reservations about this tour, wondering if it was just a shopping expedition in disguise to induce us to spend money. Not so. While one could certainly follow up later with these artisans, there was no pressure.
BOOKBINDING & MARBLE PAPER
Our first stop, and my favorite, was to Riccardo Luci’s workshop for marbled paper and bookbinding. I have a distinctive memory of visiting a small paper shop in Florence decades ago and buying some lovely little marble paper notebooks. Here, we got to see the whole process—adding drops of several colors to a slightly thick solution made from algae, creating patterns with various combs, and then laying a sheet of paper on top to transfer the colorful pattern.
Once lifted off, the sheet will take several hours to dry. Such fun to watch the swirls and feathers come alive on the paper!
Luci sells sheets of paper, and objects from pens to notebooks of several sizes all covered in unique marble designs. His workshop also creates leather wallets that can be personalized with initials or leather covered books with quotes on the front. In each case, he has letters that get heated and then pressed against a piece of gold leaf on the piece.
RESTORATION & WOODWORKING
Next we visited a woman who restores broken decorative pieces—such as a wooden figure missing an arm and part of its torso or filling in the broken parts of a picture frame. The work is delicate and requires a number of steps beginning with putting on gesso (white paint mixture) progressing to sanding, adding paint or varnish of the correct color, and perhaps lastly, using a tool to “age” the surface by roughing it up. She was one of Kate’s teachers, but alas, I didn’t get her photo.
Eighty-seven year old Luigi Mecocci is a master wood carver and furniture restorer. He restores old wooden pieces and hand carves what might be needed on an existing sculpture or to make table whole again. Like most of these workshops, his space is small and crammed with projects in various stages of completion.
The tools of his trade, and there are many, are arrayed on a back wall. Next year he will give up this shop but continue to do some work out of his home outside the city.
MARQUETRY
Renato Olivastri, an artisan in his 60’s, has worked with wood since his teens. He specializes in marquetry or inlaid wood pieces and is also expert at restoring furniture pieces in the Boulle style, those made with inlays of brass, tortoise, or silver. In addition to his restoration work, he creates lovely pieces of marquetry from start to finish—beautiful table tops, game boards, and cutouts made with inlaid wood pieces.
Our final stop, where no photos were allowed, was Autentiqua. Trained by their father, Marino Cappellini, the Cappellini siblings, a brother and sister, continue to practice ancient techniques combined with a modern sensibility. They create art pieces that look ancient, do commissioned works such as tables or large wall pieces, and offer some contemporary photography, photos of the paints and tools of their trade, which are an interesting counterpoint to the ancient-looking pieces.
LUNCH
For lunch, we went to Borgo Antico in lively, but not crowded, Piazzo di Santo Spirito. We enjoyed ravioli with butter and sage (Chief Penguin) and spaghetti a la vongole (me), preceded by a simple plate of sliced tomatoes, anchovies, and black olives. Just perfect with a glass of white wine!
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
How sad to think that all these artisans are fast disappearing from Florence.
What beautiful marbled paper and inlaid designs!