"Gold through the Centuries" in Arezzo

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"Gold through the Centuries" in Arezzo

Events

| 02 May 2014

The collaboration of Giovanni Raspini for the great exhibition dedicated to the Castellani family of jewellers. Always well informed on cultural initiatives and strongly attached to his home territory Giovanni Raspini sponsors the great exhibition dedicated to the Castellani family of nineteenth century goldsmiths, who for nearly a century established, in Europe and in the world, the standards of fashion in the field of "archaeological jewelry". It is an event of considerable importance for which the city of Arezzo has been chosen as the venue, being as it is one of the world capitals of goldsmiths, the industrial district where our well-known brand of jewelery and silverware was born and has developed.

Inaugurated in the prestigious exhibition spaces of the Basilica of San Francesco, the exhibition presents, through a selection of jewels, the Italian history goldsmiths in the nineteenth century. It chiefly consists of jewellery from the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia. Brought here, at the behest of Alfredo Castellani the last descendant of the family, whose entire collection has been preserved since 1919, which also includes valuable pieces of Etruscan-Roman archeological pieces.

The exhibition is also made interesting by the reconstruction of an ancient goldsmith's workshop, which summarizes all the main elements of the goldsmith’s craft. In the shop, in fact, there are craftsmen at work who show visitors the charm of the ancient art, in which Giovanni Raspini excels today. A place of great pathos, recreated thanks to Giovanni Raspini, where the furniture set in its original environment takes on a new lease of life, in a setting made of ancient coral, vases, wax patterns and Eighteenth Century prints, where the visitor will see goldsmiths committed to their traditional school with all the tools of the trade. Chisel, tools to get the old embossing work and a wire-flattening mill within the complete workshop, immersing visitors in a unique atmosphere where the visitor can re-live the past and perceive the industriousness of the goldsmiths of the time.

Despite of the most advanced technology, in fact, the goldsmith's art still retains its ancient traditional practices, granting the “Made in Italy” an enviable and valuable manual skill. " As is well known – as Giovanni Raspini says - the Etruscan city of Arezzo became, in the twentieth century, the undisputed capital of goldsmiths in Italy and the world. In fact, still today, our work begins early in the morning with the operation of the ancient lost wax casting technique, made with the same methods and the same attention of two thousand years ago. Every step in creating our jewellery stands between tradition and innovation, with a series of operations that put into contact ancient tools with the technologies of today. The prestige and fame of Tuscan and Italian goldsmiths - continues Giovanni Raspini - was born out of this staunch commitment to the pursuit of excellence: an attitude that gives life to our creations, making them truly unique. The fascination of fire and of man's manual work destined to the achievement of that beauty that are necessary for the achievement of style and class."