The goldsmith’s art in Arezzo was born with the Etruscans between the 7th and 6th century BC; Etruscans were capable craftsmen possessing advanced techniques for jewelry processing such as repoussé, “granulation” and art of filigree.

Granulation and filigree consisted of working designs onto a surface with tiny granules of gold. Great care had to be taken to avoid melting the little granules onto the surface but instead, soldering them with a tiny heated point. The various omissions and imperfections were made on purpose to give to the piece of jewelry an artistic flair. From the sixteenth century AC Arezzo became an important center for gold processing; In the city, there were many handcraft workshops where local lords bought jewels. In a short time, Arezzo became the production of religious objects celebrated by the Popes.

At the beginning of 900s, Arezzo changed its face with many small and medium enterprises dedicated to the production of jewelry to create a "gold district". Nowadays the gold district in Arezzo includes about 1.200 enterprises with 8.000 employees.

Source: www.osservatoriodistretti.org

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