Gloria Giannelli Alabastri
Gloria Giannelli began her alabaster artist career in 1980 and she was the first woman in the history of Volterra to do this work.
Gloria’s workshop, like most of the activities in the historical center of Volterra, exploits the spaces of ancient dwellings: it’s located on the ground floor of Palazzo Tortoli. The building, renovated in recent times, on the outside is lacking in details that could indicate some reminiscence of past eras, but inside an interesting medieval influence can be glimpsed.
Come see Gloria at work with her delicious creations, in her workshop adjacent to the Etruscan Museum.
The Artist and her Collaborators
Gloria Giannelli
Engraving and fretwork manufacture
Since I was a little girl I used to go to the shops of the artisans in my neighborhood, feeling a great admiration for what their skilled hands could do. This has aroused in me the desire to undertake this activity. The accuracy of my creations is distinguished by the harmony of the forms, the pleasantness to the touch and the delicacy of the product.
For this to be possible, certainly an important factor was the fact that before me the work was done only by male artisans and therefore it had a purely masculine taste, so my work has distinguished itself from the traditional work for the feminine approach and touch.
Omero Cerone
Lathe machine turning work
His work is carried out using a block of alabaster stone that is cut according to the measurements of the piece to be made. The piece is cut using a band saw to create the rough shape, then it is fixed on the lathe and then turned freehand using cutting tools.
Every piece prepared by Omero is unique.
Renzo Gazzanelli
Decoration work
Renzo’s work is carried out using a piece semi-finished by Omero, the motif is created by hand and subsequently, by means of a milling tool, the pattern is obtained from the piece and finally finished manually in the traditional way.