Pescaglia – Iron Foundry

3rd MAY 2019

Two trips out of Lucca in one week with friends Eddie, Karen, Jim and Sheri proved to be very interesting, visiting old crafts in metal and marble. The first visit was at the suggestion of Jim and Sheri, who wanted to show us the fascinating Iron Foundry hidden away in the wooded hills near Pescaglia.

The centuries-old stone building housed an iron foundry that ran without modern electricity but solely relied on an ingenious water system that flowed naturally down the hillside. Upon entering inside, we were met with the warmth of the furnace, the black soot-encrusted walls and the noise of the hammer once Carlo started working the red-hot iron.

This use of water powered everything that included a huge waterwheel fed by gravity, that in turn operated a water-driven hammer, power for the furnace and a dynamo to create a small amount of electric lighting. With a strong handshake, Carlo Galgani greeted us with a warm smile. Small in stature and showing years of hard work in his general demeanour, Carlo wore a hat made casually out of folded paper, that kept the dust and soot out of his hair.

With us at the foundry was an old lady who had made the journey there to buy a large iron pot, no doubt destined for an open fire to cook with in a rustic kitchen. Stacked around the walls were several garden implements, spades of every size to which he was fixing long wooden handles.

We were shown several of the foundry’s famous designs using a bird motif of kitchen equipment such as cleavers, knives, double-handed herb cutters all superbly crafted by hand with his maker’s mark FP, that stands for Fabbrica Pescaglia.  Several of these items were destined for a well-known restaurant in New York.   

Upon leaving, we were pleased to discover that Carlo’s grandson was learning the trade and was keen to keep the unique foundry going for at least another couple of generations.