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# 69 • OCTOBER 5 , 2015
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ITALIAN HANDCRAFTS:
Monregalese Ceramics
By Camera di Commercio di Cuneo with Unioncamere
se valley. It was ties with
the House of Savoy, which
bought the Besio family to
Carassone. In 1842, they
inaugurated a new factory
in the district of Piandellavalle. From that moment
begins a relentless proliferation of production units
in Mondovi, Chiusa, Pesio,
Mombasiglio,
Vicoforte
and Villanova. Having now
taken root in the social
and economic fabric of
Monregalese, the ceramic
industry found itself ready for the world economic expansion phase of
the decades 1850-1870.
Production starts spreading to working-class and
The work is continued by bourgeois street markets,
Benedetto Musso, a native often crossing national
of Savona, who is active in and continental borders.
attracting knowledge and
technology from his ho- A system for rapid and
metown and organizing effective casting was dethe supply of wood and veloped along with a seclay from the Monregale- ries of decorative designs
Starting from the nineteenth century, a ceramics
culture develops in the
Cuneo province of Monregalese. The manufacturers
of silk and woollen cloth
for military use govern the
area’s vibrant economy
and trade with neighbouring towns and Liguria.
On finding the production
of “fine earthenware” to
be an important growth
area, the Jacobin doctor
Francesco Perotti opens
a small workshop located
in a hay barn of Mondovì, Rinchiuso in 1805. This
marks the start of Monregalese ceramics.
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that met current trends.
This fresh and fast making
process became established forever as