ITN24 CAE - Visit to the Coral Museum

Foreigner students attend the lectures performed by the italian students in English. Torre del Greco is the city of coral. 
The peculiar characteristics of the coral have determined its history. The economy of our town has been bond to the fishing and manifacturing of coral. Also the contruction of the typical boats "coralline", has always been crucial for our town.

The students show an exhibition of the precious jewel and give us the history of each creation.

This art is also linked to another myth which speaks of a Genoese craftsman of the late 18th century, Paolo Bartolomeo Martin, who after having learned the secrets of coral processing in the Marseille laboratories, returned to Italy with the hope of making use of that knowledge of his. Torre del Greco at the time was a simple fishing village specialized in the hunt for red gold. Martin wanted to make a quick stop but found love and with it a new home. He asked for and obtainedauthorization from the king to build the first shop and began the wonderful tale of Torrese coral. A story that lives today in the rooms of a museum and in the willing hands of the students of the local "Francesco Degni" art institute. The schoolhas got a special section who create different objects of luxury with the corals.

The ancient art of working with coral is combined with modern creativity in the laboratory of the young coral craftspeoplestudents. In this workshop, one can rediscover traditional techniques that have been proven over centuries of the coral-making tradition. It is jewelry, but they also make cribs and different creations, still jewels, but of a type that cannot beworn. They work with the purity of coral and sometimes in combination with other precious materials.

Our students tried different jewelry necklaces, bracelets created by the italians.

During the visit to Coral Museum we learned about coral, its origins, the way craftsmen have worked this product fromthe sea. We also learned some words related to this product. We admired some coral pieces, the finnest coral jewelery. This  was a very interesting and cultural activity. They enrich their knowledge and vocabulary with the words belonging to coral and cameos artcrafts