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Coppersmith

In Via del Commercio (now Via delle Beccherie) there were numerous coppersmiths’ shops (quallaroll).

They worked on a typical three leg seat constituted by a strong wood easel with a long iron bar inserted oblique in the center of the seat: it was shaped by a side to give the shape to the bottom of the manifactured container and conic from the other side. The bar was fixed so that the artisan could work on both sides. He used the conic side to create boilers, braziers, ladles, pails, bed warmers, oil containers.

From the coppersmiths’ shops came the rhythmic sounds of the hits given on the copper plates using wood or iron hammers to produce artifacts essential in the peasant culture.

Subsequently the coppersmith evenly applied liquid tin inside the containers that he was creating, so that they couldn’t oxidize and could be used for cooking.

This artisan also brought his work door-to-door, especially when a mend with tin for broken containers was needed. In the peasant culture, infact, the waste didn’t exist and they tried to recover everything.

Today, in Via delle Beccherie, there is a ‘coppersmith’ bronze statue (realized by Nicola Morelli) to remember the intense activity carried out in that street from such artisans.

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