Liquid Hot MAGMA

You're probably wondering why I've included this video of Dr. Evil from the movie Austin Powers. Well, let me tell you: we went to the MAGMA museum today (Museo delle Arti in Ghisa nella Maremma)--the Museum of Cast Iron Arts in the Maremma.

Liquid Hot Magma

It is housed in the restored Forno San Ferdinando, the oldest building in town, once home to the furnace where cast iron was melted and formed. We started in front of this art installation representing the old furnace: the red strips at the bottom evoke the firing stage, the gray in the center the iron itself, and the clear strips at the top symbolize the smoke.

Furnace Art

From Drawing to Casting

It didn't take long for the Follonica Foundry to develop its own "school," thanks to Grand Duke Leopold II. Skills and know-how were passed down through generations. The ironworkers were also skilled craftsmen, renowned for shaping the wooden patterns used to cast iron. 

Carving a Pattern

This led to the sophisticated production of fine cast-iron urban furniture and everyday goods. In fact, it was mass-produced high-quality pipes, not the fancier ornamental pieces that really drove the success of the foundry.

Wooden Patterns for Door Fanlights

Facing stiff competition from a foundry in Florence, Follonica published The Casting Catalogue, showcasing its full range of mass-produced items--including ornamental pieces designed by the foundry's own school. Here is a page featuring door knockers. It reminded us of my previous post, Nice Knockers.

Catalogue Page

The innovative early works for Saint Leopold's Church and for the foundry's monumental gate were especially noteworthy. Architects Alessandro Manetti and Carlo Reishammer were hired to design them, and their collaboration explored the new possibilities of decorative cast iron. Their work opened the door to commissions in Livorno and Florence.

Saint Leopold's Church is an early, rare example of cast-iron architecture. Until then, metal was mostly used for civil engineering, not monumental buildings. This church demonstrated how cast iron could combine function with ornamentation.

Wooden pattern for the tracery of Saint Leopold's Church

Leopold II also decided to separate the foundry from the rest of the town. The monumental gateway was completed in 1845, representing the symbolic elements of iron production:

• Earth (horns of plenty)
• Water (dolphins)
• Fire (torch)
• Air (tracery)

These four elements signaled Tuscany's entrance into a new iron age. Many of Florence's statues, fountains, columns and streetlamps were produced right here in Follonica.

The Horn of Plenty

The Dolphins

The Torch

The Tracery

The renaissance of ironworking in Follonica was driven by the Grand Duke's ambition to make Tuscany a major exporter. But why choose such a sparsely populated area? 

Because Follonica had everything needed:

• nearby iron ore from the mines on Elba,
• vast forests for fuel,
• and flowing water to power the foundry's mills. 

A pier connected the Island of Elba mines to the foundry, where ore was unloaded and transported--first by cart, later by railway. Unfortunately, the pier was destroyed during World War II.

Despite the natural advantages, the region was hostile to humans. Malaria-infested marshes made it hard to attract year-round workers. Through the 1800s; the tiny industrial village only became a real town through enormous effort and many lives lost.

To expand, Follonica needed an urban center to attract settlers. Leopold II envisioned it as a symbol of the Maremma's rebirth. Massive drainage projects began in 1828. Marshes were drained, oak and pine forests were planted, artesian wells were dug, roads were upgraded, and a modern grid layout was established. Farmland was reclaimed for crops, olive groves, and orchards. What had been a desolate region slowly became livable.

Follonica Anthem

People began to settle in Follonica, including the Nicoletti brothers, who escaped a period of social unrest in Emilia-Romagna, and established a factory producing concrete goods, especially tiles. They developed cementine--patterned cement tiles used for floors and walls.  

Bronze mold and resulting tile

The process involved color filled molds, sand, gravel, high pressure pressing, water baths, and long drying times. Skilled craftswomen produced 30-50 tiles per day.

Cementine tiles were laid without grout and finished with linseed oil. Many homes in Follonica and the surrounding areas, still feature original Nicoletti floors--including our apartment. We even found our pattern in the catalogue. Compare it with the photo from my previous post!

Catalogue Tile

As we looped back toward the entrance of the museum, Ira took this shot:

Artist shot

Outside, we made sure to walk through the now-famous Foundry Gate. Look closely and you can spot the four symbolic elements.

Foundry Gate

Afterward, we headed back to our room for a little downtime before dinner at our now familiar pizza place. This time we skipped the slices and ordered a specialty pizza: La Piemontese - pears, gorgonzola, walnuts, and mozzarella--plus a salad with roasted chicken. Both were delicious and reasonably priced.

La Piemontese

The next day, after our beach walk, I wanted something different for lunch. We'd walked past a burger spot called Da Poldo several times, and after seeing a couple enjoying their black-bun burgers the night before, I knew that's what I wanted. I had a vegan burger; Ira had a double bacon cheese burger. We shared fries. Perfect.

Double Bacon Cheeseburger

Vegan burger with Fontina, Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions

After lunch, you guessed it, we walked it off at the beach and then before heading back to our room stopped at St. Leopold's Church to admire the cast-iron work we'd learned about at the museum.

St. Leopold's Church

The column

By dinnertime, I was still full from lunch, so I decided to have popcorn for dinner. I love popcorn--drive up popcorn, Chicago popcorn--it basically got me through university, and tonight it was exactly what I wanted. Ira made do with cold cuts, cheese and bread from Coop. Sometimes simple is best.

Finally, we got the thumbs-up to return home: the broken pipe had been located and repaired, and the water turned back on. 

Yay!

So, as Stefano from Affari Tuoi might say:

Ci vediamo tra una manciata di giorni!

We'll see you in a handful of days.