Italian Red Coral history and Torre del Greco "City of Coral" par excellence
Used both as stone in jewellery as well as in the
creation of decorative objects, coral (from the
Greek kora halos “maiden of the sea”) is a precious
creature of the depth of the sea. Indeed,
it is obtained from the calcareous skeleton of
small polyps living in colonies in warm plankton-
rich sea beds. Corals used to create artifacts derive mainly
from Japanese and Mediterranean Seas. The Mediterranean
variety, caught in Italy (Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Tuscany,
Liguria, Sicily and Sardinia) and in the
surrounding basin, has a characteristic
red color and was the
most commonly used in
the 19th century. The end
of the 19th century was a
“golden” period also for
the Italian species of the
waters off Sciacca, in
Sicily, whose more or less
salmon-red intense tone
at times presented yellow
stains verging on brown. Starting
from the second half of the 20th century, coral colonies
were discovered in many areas of the Pacific Ocean and to
date the variety used the most even in our country is that from
the Sea of Japan. Its colors cover a broad spectrum of different
hues, from white to pale pink (“angelskin”), from
bright to darker red (“deep red”).
The “City of Coral” par excellence in Italy is
(near Naples), the country’s fourth goldsmith centre after Arezzo, Vicenza and Valenza Po. The Campania town, whose
thriving manufacturing activities are renowned all over the
world, employs thousands of professionals with hundreds of
medium to large sized companies on the territory and a considerable
number of small laboratories. Coral fishing dates
back to the 16th century in , but it was only
in 1805 that its manufacture officially started. Indeed, in
that year Ferdinand IV of Bourbon granted the Marseille-born Bartolomeo Martin the license to open the town’s first coral
“factory”. Today the Campania area of excels as Italy’s major coral
manufacturing centre. If until 1860-70 only Mediterranean
red coral was worked, starting from the 20th century Pacific
coral has taken on an ever-growing important role, in particular
that from the Sea of Japan. Creative imagination and
stylistic perfection still make ’s handicrafts
greatly demanded all over the world; handicrafts which are
appreciated however not only for the manufacture but also
for the splendid cameos in bas-relief semi-precious stones.
