duffys in Italy: Pietra Dura

My dad and I walked over to the Sant Ambroge outdoor market this morning along Via de Macci (just down the street from Piazza Santa Croce where we're staying) and I noticed a placard saying that one of the buildings we walked by had been a hospital built in 1355 by the Macci family. It was run by the Poor Clares for the Malmaritate (battered wives). I have walked down this street at least twenty times since we've been here and never noticed this before. When my dad looked inside the opening, we saw what you see in the first picture, the Lastrucci Mosaic studio where the Lastrucci brothers keep alive the pietra dura tradition. First, I will say I have marveled at the ornate pietra dura tables in both the Pitti Palace and Palazzio Vecchio. Pietra Dura means "hard stone" in Italian but it also refers to the decorative art using cut and fitted, highly polished stones and semi-precious stones to create images. These are made from a drawn template, sliced and cut into different sections and glued together as in the traditional way with beeswax and applied to a support. This reached its maturity as an art form in Florence in the 15th century. I have always loved decorative arts and this was a bonanza to just come upon this shop. They invited us in and showed us around the studio and explained how these are made...bonanza number 2! There were stacks of stones everywhere...everything from porphyry from Egypt (there is none left in the earth they say), lapiz lazuli, various marbles to petrified wood from Arizona! They had a little gallery in the back with new and antique pietra dura works from past centuries and they were absolutely remarkable. It is also remarkable in this day and age to see craftspersons keeping alive a tradition in the same way it was originally practiced in buildings that were built at the time the craft was introduced.

Just inside "I Mosaici di Lastrucci" where the Lastruccis have a studio where they keep alive the mosaic technique (from 15th century Florence) on via de'Macci in the historical building that was once a hospital set up by the Poor Clares for the "Malmaritate" (the battered wives).

They use the templates cut out from a sketch on paper and use beeswax to stick the pieces together and then they are glued on a solid support at the end.