(map) Pietrasanta, Tuscany
Pietrasanta, which means Holy Stone, is mostly known for its sculpture. Every year, and all year, sculptors arrive from the far corners of the globe to work the white stone from the very quarries that Michelangelo used. It is here where you will find the palpable energy of creation.
In studios peppered all around the town, marble is carved, chiseled and sanded into works of art. From renaissance to abstract and traditional to modern, the studios of Pietrasanta offer a peek into this generation’s expression.
Working stone means long hours and months at a time before applying the finishing touches, so the completion of a piece is a time for celebration. There is a camaraderie among the artists who help teach, encourage and advise one another, thus the prosecco is popped and the glasses are raised to honor the stone, the artist and the place that makes it all possible.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Beautiful sculpture! I’d love to see the artists in action.
July 24th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I always enjoy your issues and this one on Pietrasanta was of special interest to me. According to my mother, her grandmother was given the surname Pietra Santa, because she was the illegitimate child of a Bourbon soldier and a local town’s girl (in Calatafimi (TP), Sicily).
My maternal great-grandmother was apparently left behind the church door and raised by the convent nuns. Do you know of any other stories like this one? Grazie Mille, Paula (Giangreco / Pace) Cullison
July 25th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Can we say what wonderful work is done here!!!!
I too would enjoy watching the artists at their sculpturing.
How fulfilling they must feel when the sculpture is finally completed.
Thank you for the article.
Ciao,
Claudia
July 25th, 2009 at 3:10 am
The whole nine yards, from the development of the idea, the work in progress to the finished piece is indescribedly beautiful. I yearn to witness it from the loosening of the marble from the mountain, the blocking-out of the idea to its completion. It knocks me out. Just lovely.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Pemit me to note a correction. Pietrasanta does not mean, Holy Stone.
In the recent scholarly book, “Michaelangelo’s Mountain” by Eric Scigliano,it is noted that
“The town’s name sends travel writers waxing poetic….The name’s origin actually has nothing to do with stone. In 1215 the republic of Lucca deputed a Milanese nobleman, Guiscardo Pietrasanta, to consolidate its control over this strategic choke point between the mountains and sea; he founded the town that bears his name….” (P.192).
Joseph F. Krupksy
Basking Ridge NJ
July 27th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
This is not a comment, but, rather, two questions:
1. Is there train service from Rome up to P?
2. Is there air service from London to Florence? Pisa? If so, which is better?
My tap tap machine (a/k/a computer) skills are not sufficiently cultivated to find out these answers.Something about teach tricks to dogs. Moreover, nothing beats advice from someone who’s gone on before.
Did enjoy this recent communique from you. Excuse my forwardness, but keep up the good words.
If I might suggest, at the next “unveiling” and “uncorking”, please, have someone read aloud da Vinci’s savage, bad mouth comments on sculptors. A good howl will be had by all. It’s contained in his “Treatise on Painting.”
Grrazie mille.
July 27th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
When translated, his surname (Pietrasanta) means Holy Stone.
Pietra (stone) Santa (holy)
ItalianNotebook is always most interesting. GRAZIE!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Joseph, yes, train service between the two exists. Try http://www.trenitalia.it, or http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html
Enter the cities and your date, and it will tell you what trains are scheduled that day/time.
I know for sure there is a direct Ryanair Stanstead-Pisa flight. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a British Airways or Alitalia Heathrow-Florence one too. Not sure though.
In bocca al lupo! (Good luck!)
GB
March 17th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
hi im from israel im an artist and im interisted on the marble sculpting can i have more information about the time ond the oust please? thank you