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production – and thus promote and enhance this uniqueness and beauty. To construct a possible rating matrix, the research investigates and compares how artistic crafts are disciplined in Italy and in some relevant nations of the European Union (France, Germany, United Kingdom). Japanese legislation is also examined, in consideration of Japan’s rich tradition in the crafts and, above all, the particular attention that is devoted to protecting and promoting Japanese craftsmanship of excellence: an example that we should all be following. Italian productive regulations and territorial expertise are then analysed, to distil the definitions that are most recurrent and which become the basis for the key-concepts on which artisan excellence can be grounded and evaluated. In addition, the study integrates the output of an important sociological research on the perception of artistic crafts in Italy, which was conducted by sociologist Enrico Finzi on behalf of the Cologni Foundation for the Métiers d’Art. A fundamental contribution also comes from some of the greatest and most authoritative master craftsmen of Lombardy, with whom the validity of the classification system was verified. A critical summary is extracted from the analytical study of the Italian legislation and regulations, from the opinions of experts (sociologists, philosophers, economists, artists, master craftsmen, art historians, men of letters, opinion leaders…), from the sociological research and, lastly, from the interviews with the master craftsmen themselves. The resulting rating system has a double purpose: on the one hand, the evaluation of excellence and, on the other, its promotion. The criteria and concepts that are the key words on which the evalua-
tion is based constitute an ideal reference point for high-level artisan savoir faire and can be condensed in craftsmanship, authenticity, competence, creativity, training, innovation, interpretation, originality, talent, territoriality, tradition. The central themes in the cultural debate surrounding artistic crafts are employed in the matrix of an innovative rating system, which an ad hoc commission of experts could use to “weigh” each of the key-concepts, in order to assign a vote to the different subcategories according to a simple evaluating system. The author’s hope is that this matrix, which will need to be perfected through further practical testing, will prove to be a valuable instrument in identifying, promoting and safeguarding artisan excellence. And, above all, that it may serve as an incentive to protect, improve and rediscover it. The first-hand accounts of Lombardy’s master craftsmen give shape and substance to the theory. The panel of eminent representatives of “the intelligence of the hand” operate in different fields: from tailoring to musical instruments, from marionettes to ceramics, from embroidery, carpentry and goldsmithing, to paper and iron. Carlo Andreacchio, Renata Casartelli, Caterina Crepax, Elena Dal Cortivo, Pierluigi Ghianda, Pino Grasso, Eugenio Monti Colla, Gio Batta Morassi, Alessandro Rametta, Lorenzo Rossi, Gabriella Sacchi, Filippo Villa: it is in their extraordinary and captivating accounts, which are so rich with experience and knowledge, talent and passion, that the most authentic heart of the study beats; and it is thanks to their words that we are truly able to fully grasp the great beauty, high moral standards and essential “value” of craftsmanship.
The cover of the book The value of the craft by Alberto Cavalli, published by Marsilio, features a parchment rose created by the expert hands of Elena Dal Cortivo, based in Milan. Above, a violin undergoes the delicate phase of varnishing in the workshop of Gio Batta Morassi, in Cremona.
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