Florence Artisans | National Geographic

the workshops are hidden throughout the
narrow streets of Oltrarno
artisans ply trays learn not in schools
but through apprenticeships and years of
experience silversmith Donato sacado has
been creating silver furnishings and
tableware for over three decades one of
his prized objects is a sterling silver
vase it’s made from three disks the
disks are molded into three pieces like
a puzzle the precision is very important
here because they have to be absolutely
identical so if one piece becomes
slightly different than the other then
it has to be scrapped then so Carl’s
assistant soldered the pieces together
joint is invisible just a few blocks
away
artisans prepare marble inlay tabletop
each piece has been hand cut and fit
within a larger piece a coating has been
applied to even out the many joints and
then it’s buffed to an even finish
marble inlay was perfected by
Florentines around the end of the 16th
century inlay artisans can be found
around the world today but it’s
Florentine work that’s found in palaces
across Europe gifts over the centuries
from Grand Dukes of the Medici family
in the same building this man paints in
what’s known as golly Ola imitation
marble the technique was perfected in
Italy in the 17th century it’s most
often painted on plaster originally
intended as a cheap substitute for
marble it’s now considered an art form
in itself and so it has gone all the way
back to the Renaissance sunup to sundown
every day there is art in the alleyways
of Oltrarno