Buy the Coast
Handicrafts
Coral work
The so-called "red gold", not a vegetable, even if branched, not a mineral though petrified, but a calcareous secretion produced by colonies of microorganisms, claims its origin from the blood gushing from the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa. The red coral of the Mediterranean already seduced people thousands of years ago, as witnessed by several archaeological finds. The first to take up fishing and the systematic processing of coral in Italy were the inhabitants of Trapani, who soon became very skilled "sculptors" specialized in setting small corals into sacred objects and those for household use. But first place for working with and marketing coral belongs to the town of Torre del Greco, where in various workshops they carry out the so-called "smooth" work, which includes balls, barrels, cylinders, almonds and cabochons, while cameo engraving is done at home by skilled craftsmen who transmit their engraving technique from father to son.
Lava stone work
The Vesuvian lava originating from the ancient eruptions of Vesuvius is a material stronger than marble and is very famous and in demand throughout the world. The historical "stonecutters", known at the time of the Romans as lapicidae, carved olive presses and millstones intended for farm work. In the 17th and 18th century, as shown by the magnificent Vesuvian Villas of the Golden Mile, they made statues, columns, fountains, Porali and marvellous stairways for the villas of the Bourbon kings and nobles of their court. Each mason established a deep relationship with the lava stones to be worked, naming them according to their sizes, and in the same way they created nicknames for each chisel used for shaping them, passing on their craft techniques from father to son. Current and modern production, especially that of road paving, has not threatened the survival of traditional stone craftsmanship. In the town of Boscoreale and the surrounding areas, some companies specialise in the working with this product, enamelling and decorating it with ceramic inserts to obtain tables, seats and finely-crafted jewellery. In interior furnishing, the design, construction and installation of floors, cladding, kitchen countertops, sinks and fireplaces is continually growing.
Nativity Art
Already known for the craft of coral and cameos, Torre del Greco also expresses its artistic nature in nativity art. They reveal the influence of 18th century Neapolitan cribs, but are distinguished by the originality of their scenes, the careful arrangement of the figures and the refinement of their lights and colours. If we add to this the great love that the local crib artists have for the mystery of the birth of the child Jesus, the entire work becomes an elegant artistic model, full of Christian warmth. Some of the works created have been exhibited in the Vatican.
Restoration of antique furniture
The ancient craft techniques and modern knowledge regarding the reclamation of materials in Torre Del Greco allow the restoration of the original conditions of masterpieces of furniture, paintings and sculptures from all over the world.
Textile production
Besides being known as the "city of pasta" and "city of wine", at least 20% of the swimwear known worldwide under the "Positano fashion" label is produced in the workshops of Gragnano
Barrel production
The art of barrel making, a typical activity of Boscotrecase and the whole of the area Vesuvius in general, connected to the production of wine, is still practiced by local coopers and represents another important reality for the economy. Mention of this ancient art is already found in the works of Pliny and Varone. In other times and places, Dante tells of coopers and their guild, recalling how they were the most appreciated artisans in that era and how their guild was one of the most powerful.
The art of embroidery
Also the passion for embroidery has ancient roots in Boscotrecase. Since the 1930s two schools run by nuns, the "Adorers of the Blood of Christ" in the parish of the Annunziatella and the "Pious Disciples of Jesus in the Eucharist", in the parish of Sant’Anna, have been teaching generations of girls the secrets of crochet, classic embroidery and lace for over 40 years. Their beautiful handmade trousseaus represent a tradition that is still very much alive.
The art of puppet making
An ancient and fascinating traditional art of Torre Annunziata is that of puppets, sustained by a family of Neapolitan puppet masters who transferred to Torre Annunziata in 1887. The last descendant of this family (Corelli) preserves a huge patrimony of handmade puppets, about a meter in height and weighing about 20 kg, with well-made features and structures. They have jointed legs and wrists in order to handle swords and knives to perform realistic fights and duels. The repertoire is fixed: they represent in particular, the phantasmagorical world of Ariosto's "the Frenzy of Orlando", the paladins of Charlemagne and the "guapperia napoletana" of 19th-century Naples.
OTHER PRODUCTS TYPICAL OF THE AREA:
Flower-growing
Floriculture is one of the most important of all agricultural sectors in Campania and most of its production comes from the Vesuvian Coast. Delicate azaleas, desert roses, euphorbias, turmeric, long-stemmed roses with tall cups, fragrant carnations, coloured begonias, camellias and hundreds of other varieties are grown in greenhouses. Typical of these areas are the bulbous plants of the Pompeii-Stabiese area and the orchids of Vesuvius. The flowers for the white carnation floral decoration of the Musikverein Golden Hall of in Vienna, venue of the New Year Concert, for the Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm and for the Sanremo Festival come from Vesuvian Coast The two major flower markets in Ercolano, located on the slopes of Vesuvius and Pompeii situated in a structure at the Castellammare di Stabia motorway exit are ideal places to enjoy this vast expanse of colour.
Shipbuilding
An outstanding industry on the Vesuvian Coast is shipbuilding. Equipped with an organization capable of managing the construction of vessels of varying complexity, Castellammare di Stabia has been a locality with excellent qualifications since the end of the 16th century. The state-owned Quisisana forests on the slopes of Mount Faito provided timber; the mineral waters permitted a wood treatment that was impossible elsewhere; the connection to Naples was by a wide and comfortable road; and the consolidated expertise of the local shipwrights assured the availability of qualified workers. These shipyards have made the Amerigo Vespucci to the bathyscaphe Trieste (1953) and hundreds of other beautiful ships. The plant is now owned by FINCANTIERI - Cantieri navali Italiani S.p.A. and covers approximately 236,000 m², with a covered area of 78,000 m². It does not have a floating dock, but a 234 m slipway that is 32 m in width.
Here tankers and cargo ships are built, as well as cruise ferries and car-carriers Even in Torre Annunziata the passion for boats soon became a family tradition. Today, 14 outstanding companies have joined to create a new nautical centre, located on unused land and offering high level services on ground and in the water, the most important in the region of Campania. Even Torre del Greco up till the 19th-century considered activities related to the sea as its greatest resource. Firstly, the manufacturing activity related to shipbuilding, then the commercial activity related to the fishing industry and the whole coral industry. The people working in the city's boatyards, the so-called "maestri d’ascia" (axe masters), were known not only in Italy but also abroad. Some of the boats they built made history. They cite the case of the motorsailer “S. Giuseppe Due”, with which the Italians earned the right to participate in the search for and exploitation of Antarctica’s resources, thanks to their exploration of new territories there; and the event of the "Cleopatra" movie set for adapting the ships to the historical circumstances, for which the shipyard that took care of the set up received a certificate of merit from Twentieth Century Fox Production LTD.
The so-called "red gold", not a vegetable, even if branched, not a mineral though petrified, but a calcareous secretion produced by colonies of microorganisms, claims its origin from the blood gushing from the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa. The red coral of the Mediterranean already seduced people thousands of years ago, as witnessed by several archaeological finds. The first to take up fishing and the systematic processing of coral in Italy were the inhabitants of Trapani, who soon became very skilled "sculptors" specialized in setting small corals into sacred objects and those for household use. But first place for working with and marketing coral belongs to the town of Torre del Greco, where in various workshops they carry out the so-called "smooth" work, which includes balls, barrels, cylinders, almonds and cabochons, while cameo engraving is done at home by skilled craftsmen who transmit their engraving technique from father to son.
Lava stone work
The Vesuvian lava originating from the ancient eruptions of Vesuvius is a material stronger than marble and is very famous and in demand throughout the world. The historical "stonecutters", known at the time of the Romans as lapicidae, carved olive presses and millstones intended for farm work. In the 17th and 18th century, as shown by the magnificent Vesuvian Villas of the Golden Mile, they made statues, columns, fountains, Porali and marvellous stairways for the villas of the Bourbon kings and nobles of their court. Each mason established a deep relationship with the lava stones to be worked, naming them according to their sizes, and in the same way they created nicknames for each chisel used for shaping them, passing on their craft techniques from father to son. Current and modern production, especially that of road paving, has not threatened the survival of traditional stone craftsmanship. In the town of Boscoreale and the surrounding areas, some companies specialise in the working with this product, enamelling and decorating it with ceramic inserts to obtain tables, seats and finely-crafted jewellery. In interior furnishing, the design, construction and installation of floors, cladding, kitchen countertops, sinks and fireplaces is continually growing.
Nativity Art
Already known for the craft of coral and cameos, Torre del Greco also expresses its artistic nature in nativity art. They reveal the influence of 18th century Neapolitan cribs, but are distinguished by the originality of their scenes, the careful arrangement of the figures and the refinement of their lights and colours. If we add to this the great love that the local crib artists have for the mystery of the birth of the child Jesus, the entire work becomes an elegant artistic model, full of Christian warmth. Some of the works created have been exhibited in the Vatican.
Restoration of antique furniture
The ancient craft techniques and modern knowledge regarding the reclamation of materials in Torre Del Greco allow the restoration of the original conditions of masterpieces of furniture, paintings and sculptures from all over the world.
Textile production
Besides being known as the "city of pasta" and "city of wine", at least 20% of the swimwear known worldwide under the "Positano fashion" label is produced in the workshops of Gragnano
Barrel production
The art of barrel making, a typical activity of Boscotrecase and the whole of the area Vesuvius in general, connected to the production of wine, is still practiced by local coopers and represents another important reality for the economy. Mention of this ancient art is already found in the works of Pliny and Varone. In other times and places, Dante tells of coopers and their guild, recalling how they were the most appreciated artisans in that era and how their guild was one of the most powerful.
The art of embroidery
Also the passion for embroidery has ancient roots in Boscotrecase. Since the 1930s two schools run by nuns, the "Adorers of the Blood of Christ" in the parish of the Annunziatella and the "Pious Disciples of Jesus in the Eucharist", in the parish of Sant’Anna, have been teaching generations of girls the secrets of crochet, classic embroidery and lace for over 40 years. Their beautiful handmade trousseaus represent a tradition that is still very much alive.
The art of puppet making
An ancient and fascinating traditional art of Torre Annunziata is that of puppets, sustained by a family of Neapolitan puppet masters who transferred to Torre Annunziata in 1887. The last descendant of this family (Corelli) preserves a huge patrimony of handmade puppets, about a meter in height and weighing about 20 kg, with well-made features and structures. They have jointed legs and wrists in order to handle swords and knives to perform realistic fights and duels. The repertoire is fixed: they represent in particular, the phantasmagorical world of Ariosto's "the Frenzy of Orlando", the paladins of Charlemagne and the "guapperia napoletana" of 19th-century Naples.
OTHER PRODUCTS TYPICAL OF THE AREA:
Flower-growing
Floriculture is one of the most important of all agricultural sectors in Campania and most of its production comes from the Vesuvian Coast. Delicate azaleas, desert roses, euphorbias, turmeric, long-stemmed roses with tall cups, fragrant carnations, coloured begonias, camellias and hundreds of other varieties are grown in greenhouses. Typical of these areas are the bulbous plants of the Pompeii-Stabiese area and the orchids of Vesuvius. The flowers for the white carnation floral decoration of the Musikverein Golden Hall of in Vienna, venue of the New Year Concert, for the Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm and for the Sanremo Festival come from Vesuvian Coast The two major flower markets in Ercolano, located on the slopes of Vesuvius and Pompeii situated in a structure at the Castellammare di Stabia motorway exit are ideal places to enjoy this vast expanse of colour.
Shipbuilding
An outstanding industry on the Vesuvian Coast is shipbuilding. Equipped with an organization capable of managing the construction of vessels of varying complexity, Castellammare di Stabia has been a locality with excellent qualifications since the end of the 16th century. The state-owned Quisisana forests on the slopes of Mount Faito provided timber; the mineral waters permitted a wood treatment that was impossible elsewhere; the connection to Naples was by a wide and comfortable road; and the consolidated expertise of the local shipwrights assured the availability of qualified workers. These shipyards have made the Amerigo Vespucci to the bathyscaphe Trieste (1953) and hundreds of other beautiful ships. The plant is now owned by FINCANTIERI - Cantieri navali Italiani S.p.A. and covers approximately 236,000 m², with a covered area of 78,000 m². It does not have a floating dock, but a 234 m slipway that is 32 m in width.
Here tankers and cargo ships are built, as well as cruise ferries and car-carriers Even in Torre Annunziata the passion for boats soon became a family tradition. Today, 14 outstanding companies have joined to create a new nautical centre, located on unused land and offering high level services on ground and in the water, the most important in the region of Campania. Even Torre del Greco up till the 19th-century considered activities related to the sea as its greatest resource. Firstly, the manufacturing activity related to shipbuilding, then the commercial activity related to the fishing industry and the whole coral industry. The people working in the city's boatyards, the so-called "maestri d’ascia" (axe masters), were known not only in Italy but also abroad. Some of the boats they built made history. They cite the case of the motorsailer “S. Giuseppe Due”, with which the Italians earned the right to participate in the search for and exploitation of Antarctica’s resources, thanks to their exploration of new territories there; and the event of the "Cleopatra" movie set for adapting the ships to the historical circumstances, for which the shipyard that took care of the set up received a certificate of merit from Twentieth Century Fox Production LTD.
