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Florence, Master, Metal, Silver
Lorenzo Foglia
From technique to art: the liberated form of silver
Who we are
Publishing
News
November 2025
Pasta Diva: an unprecedented tribute to the quintessential Italian dish
Publishing, enogastronomy
“Pasta Diva” is the new title in the “Mestieri d’Arte” series by Fondazione Cologni with Marsilio Editori: an original tribute to pasta, our national dish par excellence. Written by Andrea Grignaffini, a well-known and highly esteemed author in the world of food and wine, the book becomes even more precious and enters a fantastic dimension thanks to the dreamlike and visionary illustrations of Paolo Rui.
November 2025
The “Archivio delle Mani Maestre” arrives at the Chamber of Deputies
Roma
The “Mani Maestre” were presented at the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday 12 November. The meeting was opened by the Vice-President of the Chamber, Anna Ascani.
November 2025
Starhotels renews its support for the 14th edition of “Una Scuola, un Lavoro”
Once again this year, Starhotels is the hospitality partner of “Una Scuola, un Lavoro” 2026: the talented young participants, who have travelled from all over Italy to attend the Mini Master organised by Fondazione Cologni during November and December 2025
November 2025
Interwoven: a Homo Faber Capsule
SPain, Exhibition, Homofaber
Great success for “Interwoven”, the first edition of the new Homo Faber Capsule exhibition series, open to the public from 22 October to 23 November in Seville, Spain, and organised by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship.
November 2025
DIT – Design in Town 2026: registration reopens for the summer camp
Design in Town is the most important European summer camp focused on design and creativity for students aged 14 to 19. A unique project, recognised by the ADI Design Index 2016, that comes to life every summer in the magnificent Apulian town Troia, offering two- or three-week residencies to 240 students, supported by 50 university lecturers/professionals and 30 tutors.
July 2025
DIT - Design in Town 2025: Apulia the theatre of creativity
The 2025 edition of DIT – Design in Town, in Troia (Foggia), once again this year confirms itself as Europe’s most important summer camp for orientation in the disciplines of design and creativity, and concludes with the active participation of 180 students
Interviews
Lorenzo Foglia
Florence, Master, Metal, Silver

Since 1935, Florence has been home to a goldsmith’s workshop specializing in silverwork that has gradually established itself as a true academy of the craft. The founder Carlo Foglia first, then his son Giuliano, and for many years now his grandson Lorenzo have all helped write the recent history of the silversmith’s art, creating extraordinary objects and training chasers who have taken their expertise not only throughout the city but around the world.
Today, the works of Lorenzo Foglia—named a MAM, Maestro d’Arte e Mestiere, in 2018—are the mature fruit of an absolute command of traditional techniques, a broad historical culture, and an expressive freedom which—much like in the finest Renaissance workshops—elevate his sculptures and all his silverwork to the status of high art. In his words, one senses all the awareness and passion of a craftsperson who looks to Cellini and Leonardo as guiding spirits.

Daniele Mingardo
Padova, Master, Metal

Born into the craft, Daniele Mingardo is a young yet established master of metalworking who, at a very early age, transformed his family’s successful business into a thoroughly contemporary project. Passionate about design and naturally drawn to challenges, at just 25 Daniele shifted the perspective of the metalworking company founded in 1970 in Monselice (Padua) by his father Ilario. Alongside commissioned work, he introduced a collection of handcrafted objects with an elegant, minimal style, designed by a network of international designers under the guidance of an art director and produced in limited editions. A successful idea that did not sacrifice but instead enhanced Mingardo’s artisanal soul, giving rise to a new brand that embodies the essence of contemporary craftsmanship.

Lanificio Leo
Catanzaro, Master, Fashion, Textile

Emilio Salvatore Leo, architect and designer, may not be a master of the arts in the classical sense, but he is undoubtedly a master of lateral thinking—a perspective that has allowed him to reinvent his family’s historic wool mill, transforming it into a creative hub with an international outlook, open to a variety of influences and narratives. By experimenting with intangible assets—history, brand identity, relationships—he reconnected Calabria’s oldest textile factory not only with the territory where it was founded in 1873, but also with the rest of the world. He achieved this by shaping the project with a clear political vision, even before an entrepreneurial one: our land, our people, and our art are the very essence of Made in Italy.

Fabio Ottaviano
Torre del Greco, Maestri, Scultura

"It’s hard to make people understand what lies behind a cameo." That’s how our conversation with Fabio Ottaviano began—marked by a sense of pride and a hint of mystery. Ottaviano is a master artisan of miniature shell cameo engraving based in Torre del Greco, close to Naples. Son of Pasquale—himself a student and heir to Giuseppe Scialanga, one of the great Neapolitan cameo masters of 19th-century —Fabio spoke to us about the daily joy of creating beauty with infinite precision and passion. He also shared the deep satisfaction that comes from seeing his sacrifices recognized, and the challenges of working in a system that, in Italy, still struggles to properly support and protect its artisans.

The song of coral
Sciacca, Master, Coral

Laura di Giovanna Nocito creates unique jewelry from the coral of Sciacca — a treasure the waters offered to the Sicilian town nearly two centuries ago — making this precious gift of the sea "sing." The heir to a family whose legacy has been shaped, generation after generation, by remarkable women, Laura was named a MAM – Master of Arts and Crafts in 2024 for her extraordinary talent in the goldsmith's art. In the following interview, she shares the captivating, almost mythical tales that led her to make coral her life’s craft.

Beatrice Barni
Pistoia, Master, Landscape

To celebrate the arrival of spring, the Biblioteca degli Alberi in Milan has been graced with a new rose garden, which now hosts the Rosa Mestieri d’Arte, a variety specially created by the Pistoian nursery, Rose Barni, for the Cologni Foundation. The scientist, farmer, and craftswoman responsible for bringing this unique variety to life—an eloquent metaphor for a delicate yet powerful world that transforms raw matter into beauty—is Beatrice Barni. A descendant of a family that has, for four generations, given birth to new expressions of beauty, she is also an expert in hybridization, a craft for which she was honored as a MAM (Master of Art and Crafts) in 2018. An undoubtedly unique and distinctive profession within the world of craftsmanship, of which Beatrice has unveiled some of its many secrets.

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