Our craft is for sure one of the most ancient in the world: our tradition goes back to the Etrurian and Roman technique and its phases have been cyclically repeating for thousands of years.
Extraction, aging and preparation of the clay
The clay is extracted at the end of summer and ages during the whole bad weather season, then it is sharpened and laminated, in order to obtain a homogeneous dough.
Tiles and bricks production
Once the dough, that is composed exclusively of rainwater (coming from a basin that gets filled during the bad weather season) and clay from our pit, is done, it is loaded on the workbench. Here takes place the molding of the tile (brick), that consists in hand-pressing the clay into a custom-made wood mould, and then removing the excess with a wood straight-edge. Once the mould is laid on the ground and extracted, the tile is done.
Air drying
After the production, the tile (brick) is naturally dried by air for 15/20 days; this usually happens either where it has been produced (on the ground or by a fan) or in “gammette” specifically raised. During this phase the water slowly evaporates and therefore the tile (brick) hardens, until it reaches the right solidity to be carried to the kiln and fired.
Firing in the ancient kiln
After the drying process, the tile (brick) is put in the kiln, wisely superimposing the layers by ensuring that the heat arrives uniformly to all tiles, both at the bottom of the kiln or at the top of it, 6 meters above (minimum heat variations between top and bottom determinate various color’s shade).
Once all the tiles and bricks are in the kiln, we proceed with the firing (fed by local wood) that lasts about 70 consecutive hours: 24/30 hours for the heating and 36/40 hours for the firing properly said, at around 1000 degrees. Once the firing process is over, we wait for three days for the tiles to cool. Afterwards, the brick is finally ready to be taken out and packed (this always happens manually). Finally the tile (brick) can be delivered!
Obviously no synthesis product enters the production process and our tiles (bricks) can proudly be depicted as organic material.
