Fire and the Orco: metals, ceramics and crafts of the upper Canavese

In depth

Nine pages for those who want to know more: the method, the dates, the questions on which the sources do not agree and the places to visit, for adults and teachers; then five more technical pages, designed for upper secondary schools, on the tilt hammer, on copper, on clay, on water power and on the jargon of the magnins. Every hypothetical sentence carries its label and every section its sources.

1. 1. How we knowArchive documents, today's studies, theses, censuses, popular information pages and maps: what “we know”, “probable” and “uncertain” mean and what we still do not know.
2. 2. The datesThe essential dates, from the copper founders of the Bronze Age to today's Fucina da Rame, each with its source.
3. 3. Who thinks otherwiseThe dates, places and figures on which the sources do not agree, set side by side without merging them.
4. 4. Where to go todayThe Fucina da Rame at Castellaro, the water-powered machines, Castellamonte and its ceramics, the Cuorgnè Cotton Mill (Manifattura) and the other places that can be seen today.
5. 5. The “donkey-head” tilt hammerThe water wheel, the camshaft and the “donkey-head” tilt hammer: how they worked and how the change to forging came about.
6. 6. From ore to cauldronFrom chalcopyrite to copper ingots, then hammering, tinning and the work of the magnins.
7. 7. Castellamonte clayThe clay of the Castellamonte hills, the kilns, the stoves and the ceramics factories.
8. 8. From water to electric currentFrom the water of the canals to the wheels, to the turbines of the Manifattura and to the power stations that carry electricity all the way to Turin.
9. 9. The jargon of the magninsThe secret language of the coppersmiths of the Val Soana, with the words collected by Costantino Nigra in 1874.