Impruneta Terracotta

In this section you can find everything you need to know about this unique material. You will be able to fully understand its value which is due to particular chemical elements, culture and traditions.The simplest expression of ceramics are the objects made only of terracotta.
Terracotta is the name given to all the manufactured products of clay that is porous and coloured when fired and that does not have any coating (from bricks to ordinary garden vases, from statuettes to decorative terracotta)

The Tuscan village of Impruneta is renowned for its clay imbued with valuable minerals necessary in creating the highest-quality terracotta products known to man. The manufacturing of Terracotta in Impruneta is an ancient art dating back to the Etruscan civilization. First documents about in investment quality Italian Impruneta terracotta are dated 1308 when some families were known as suppliers of Florence for "mezzine" and "orci".

In Renaissance times, the rich and powerful Medici used Impruneta terracotta extensively to decorate their sumptuous palace gardens.
Each terracotta vase is a work of art. Individually molded by hand, in a slow and painstaking process, each vase is created to faithfully reproduce ancient designs. When fired at 1,000 degrees Celsius, the clay and minerals fuse together to give terracotta products their durability and frost resistance, withstanding temperatures as low as -25 degrees Celsius, setting Impruneta's terracotta apart from their ordinary Italian counterparts.

The rediscovery of terracotta sculpture is due to many factors: the interest in Roman art, the fact that it is less expensive than marble and can be prepared quickly and is also lighter. Artists used to made samples in terracotta before using marble or wood. And they also used to complete marble pieces with terracotta details.