L'ARTE DEL RAME

The protagonist of the Agnonese tradition, of the economy and of the first metal workings is copper.

The discovery of this simple element represented the economic resource for many families, at the time "houses", from Agnone who took care of its processing and diffusion, giving it the name of "red gold" since, like gold, copper has a intrinsic value as an indispensable mineral for industry. The most famous copper houses were the Galasso, the Paolantonio, the Amicarelli, the D'Agnillo, the Saulino, the Di Pasquo, the Carosella, the Sammartino, the Di Primio, the Merola and the Sabelli. The first to bring copper to our land were the Samnites, who used it to make their weapons. During the Middle Ages, Agnone, after becoming a Royal City in 1404, experienced a period of economic development in which it dedicated a lot to the production and supply of copper to neighboring peoples. The birth of a sort of quality mark that made the copper objects of Agnone sought after, requested and well-known products in the Sannio was due to the establishment, by the Municipality, of statutes that ascertained their purity: at the time the coppersmiths were used to include iron in their copper products, which is essential for the creation of not only aesthetic finishes, and this inevitably led to an increase in weight and therefore in price, but in Agnone they were fined as producers and rewarded if instead they reported the presence.

The city of Agnone, according to a document from the Cathedral of Santa Sofia of Benevento dated 1578, was among the most flourishing cities of the Italian peninsula in the fifteenth century. This ranking was drawn up in relation to the craftsmanship of the cities mentioned: Prato for fabrics, Crema for wood, Fabriano for paper, Barletta for lace and then Agnone for copper. In a map created in 1754, it is possible to observe 10 copper foundries that used the water of the Verrino river as an energy source, historically a purely Agnonese resource. Its waters were used to drive the wheels of the foundry which, through a mechanism, moved the hammer to smooth the bottom of the containers. From the Land Registry of the mid-eighteenth century there are 188 coppersmiths in Agnone, who owned a shop or a foundry for copper processing and who were divided into categories: master coppersmith, working coppersmith, coppersmith, working boilermaker, boiler repairman, tinsmith, salesman of copper. The coppersmiths brought their creations to the fairs and markets that took place in the neighboring territories and for this reason they were often forced to spend the Christmas holidays away from home. This rekindled the tradition of the Little Christmas, created to allow the shepherds, who did transhumance and who were in Puglia at Christmas, to hear the first Pastoral.

An unpleasant decline in copper processing occurred in 1860, as in all other crafts, due to the unification of Italy since, once customs barriers were abolished, the products of northern industries were preferred, as they were more refined and less expensive than local products.

But copper has not disappeared from our lives or our homes, it has actually hidden itself with the advancement of technological progress: copper is exploited for its properties of ductility, malleability and thermal and electrical conductivity to which it is second only to silver.

The first voice is Bruno Cerimele’s, descendant of the Cerimele family, owners of one of the ancient foundries along the Verrino. Although he did not carry on this tradition, he continues to remember and talk about the art and profession of his ancestors with emotion. Thanks to him, anecdotes about the coppersmith families of Agnone are discovered, and what copper symbolizes for Agnone and its citizens is recalled: human values ​​such as union, collaboration, sacrifice and love for a job that is passed down through history.

One of the few families that carries on this tradition the Gerbasi’s, owner of a workshop and of the Historical Copper Museum of Agnone which is dedicated to the art of copper. The craftsman and owner Franco Gerbasi continues the story of the history of copper processing in our times by passionately illustrating the way in which this material is worked today. A memory that unites both the descendants of these families and those who have not known the secrets of this art is the symphony produced by the beating of hammers on copper objects that could be heard while walking through the historic center of Agnone. This sound was the musical background of a show whose protagonists were the citizens of Agnone in their daily lives.