Ci vuole un villaggio (It takes a village)

In five years of interviewing artists in Pietrasanta for the podcast Materially Speaking, Sarah and Mike have learnt what artists working here find unique about Pietrasanta.

Artists usually come for the extensive supply of marble, they admire the location between mountains and sea, but what keeps them here is the incredible community of skilled workers and specialist studios and foundries.

This network of specialists, often within walking distance of the artists’ studios, all know each other (many grew up together),  so can confer to solve an artists’ problems. As far as we know this close community is unparalleled for artists creating sculpture in marble and bronze.

As one artist said to us: “Art is not just the finished piece, but all the steps that go into making it”