| Production Sectors and Clusters |
Friuli Venezia Giulia stood out among the Italian regions as it was the first to give juridical relevance to handicraft districts, as it had done for industrial clusters. In this way, it expressed its intention to give a status to those production processes having a strong handicraft connotation. On 9th July 2004 the Handicraft Cluster of Piasentina Stone ("Distretto Artigianale della pietra Piasentina ") was set up in application of a provision of the “Unified Act for Craftmanship” (Regional Law no. 12/2002, art. 69).
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Distretto artigianale della pietra Piasentina (Handicraft Cluster of Piasentina Stone)The Handicraft Cluster of Piasentina Stone , set up on 9th July 2004, covers the territory of the municipalities of Faedis, San Leonardo, San Pietro al Natisone and Torreano, within the province of Udine. The area features a concentration of pits and laboratories for the processing of a stone with a notable history, a consolidated tradition and a set of characteristics that lead to its growing success as a valuable material to be used in the building sector, but not only there.
In the past, the “Faedis Stone” or the “Torreano Stone” were used in the construction of important buildings at local level while, more recently, some of the greatest architects at world level made and are still making use of piasentina stone for relevant works such as Grimaldi Forum in Montecarlo, Folk Art Museum in New York, Piazza Grande in Palmanova and Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, just to name some.
Since 1965 stone getters and handicraft stone carvers have been meeting at the Consortium for the Production of Piasentina Stone, which has been working for promotion and development of activities and guarantee and protection of products, and has been supplying specific assistance and targeted technical support to member companies.
