Made in Italy

20 Places in 5 Cities where you can witness craftsmanship in its highest form-from marionettes to mandolins. 

Orignial text By Isabella Brega, executive summary by darmansjah, photo adapted in google image

THE STORY of Italian artisans is one of valuables and values,” writes Isabella Brega, author of the following article adapted from our Italian edition, Touring. The hallmarks  of this artisanal tradition-creativity, innovation, craftsmanship-go back at least 3,000 years, to when Etruscans fashioned extraordinary works with bronze and Romans excelled in mosaics and glass. Now travelers keen to avoid mass-produced generic can embrace a creative culture that puts a premium on the handmade, the painstakingly rendered, the movingly authentic. And with that they get a sense of the real, enduring Italy. “Made in Italy means products  crafted with soul,” says Franco Cologni, former chairman of Cartier International and founder of Milan’s Creative Academy. Pause to chat with a ceramicist in her workshop or glassblower by his furnace, and you have a window into a place’s daily rhythms, its cultural history, its animating principle. Come away with an artifact custom-made for you, and that moment lives on long after you’ve resumed life back home.

Famous for its gondolas

Venice also is home to world-class glassblowers, including Pino Signoretto, who created the piece “Abstract, Eye”