Many
have been lost in time, but in Toscana artisan laboratories have
survived even if with hard work, and carry on ancient trades such
as the work with skins and leather, wrought iron,
frame carving, production of ceramics and majolica,
embroidery of linens, book binding, brocade and damask weaving,
and the patient refined working of precious metals, of marbles,
of glass, the stone carving, passed down from the rare and
unreachable work of the “Scagliola” (stone flake).
Certain of these can be found in every city and town in
Toscana.
In the alleyways of the centre, more or less hidden, there are
artisan laboratories, modern representatives of the glorious past of minor
art, executors of refined goods famous in the world.
It is a real pleasure to walk in these streets, peeping
into the workshops where the ancient noises are jumbled up with the memory
of the taste and culture of the whole of Toscana.
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