Manufacturing Beauty. The Follonica manufactory and artistic culture in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany

As part of "Lands of the Uffizi", the project to enhance the artistic heritage of all of Tuscany, Follonica is hosting an exhibition celebrating its artistic and cultural history related to the production of cast iron artifacts: "Manufacturing Beauty. The Follonica manufactory and artistic culture in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany" housed in the halls of the "Fonderia 1" foundry, former Ilva area, from March 24 to June 30.

The exhibition focuses on Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Lorraine’s “dream” of establishing in Maremma an artistic and productive manufactory for the production of cast iron, "new" material, product of the industrial revolution, protagonist in Europe of the boldest architecture and which Grand Duke Leopold elected as the "raw material" of Tuscany, choosing Follonica as the production site.

The exhibition explores the interaction between Follonica's manufacturing apparatus and Florentine artistic and political context and illustrate the idea of a manufactory as a place of artistic and productive research and experimentation.

Drawings and projects, but also paintings, sculptures and casts from the Manetti Fund of the Accademia delle Arti e del Disegno in Florence, the State Archives of Florence, the Stibbert Museum, the Gallery of Modern Art in Palace Pitti and other public and private entities.