Davide Salvadore is an eleventh generation glassmaker in Murano. Davide began as an apprentice six decades ago first learning to work with glass, with his grandfather. Now Davide is also sharing the craft with his son. Marco Salvadore, who is a twelfth generation glassmaker, assists with bringing to life the sculptures his father, Davide, envisions. Davide is one of the last three master glassmakers of Murano, creating beautiful glass art that you won’t find anywhere else in the world.

Beautiful, handmade masks are one of Italy’s most prized creations. The finest masks are always in high demand in Italy, and one Venetian family is part of the creative genius behind the gorgeous heirlooms. Stefano Gottardo, a master of masks, has spent years perfecting his craft. Once formed, Stefano passes the masks to his sister, Manuela, and wife, Eliana, to adorn. The women put their own creative spin on each mask. This personal touch brings their masks to a new level. Each one is unique with different designs and embellishments including elaborate painted patterns to 24 karat gold leaves.

The gondola is one of Italy’s most iconic figures. The classic watercraft is crucial for both fun and function, but they do need upkeep. Sister duo Elisabetta and Elena Tramontin run the family business, repairing Venice’s prized gondolas. Some were actually built by the sisters’ father and grandfather. Every year, local boat owners bring their gondolas and other craft to the Tramontins for maintenance. . The detailed craftsmanship, along with Elisabeth’s and Elena’s eyes for perfection, help make sure these boats are strong and seaworthy for generations to come.

The Barbinis are mirror-making royalty. This family has been making mirrors in Murano for nearly 500 years. One of their ancestors even helped create the legendary hall of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The roots run so deep, the current generation of Barbinis makes mirrors in a workshop built by their grandfather. The prized family formula along with detailed cuts and designs bring their famous mirrors to life.

In a city that once fostered many classical metal workers, the Valese Foundry is one of the few that remain. Passed down through generations, Carlo Semenzato now runs his family business in Venice. The sand casting technique they use to create their masterpieces was first pioneered in China more than 2,500 years ago. Now Carlo teaches his apprentice Andrea Tenderini the trade secrets so that Andrea may carry on this rich tradition.

Marble paper making first came to Italy through Venice, back in the 16th century. Inspired by an old manual describing marble paper making, Alberto Valese vowed to learn how to do it for himself and reinvigorate the artistry in Venice. Today, Alberto creates beautiful designs with paint, then gently lays paper on top creating the marble effect. Alberto’s flair in experimentation with his art allows him to create masterpieces.

Marco Toso Borella is a Venetian painter, writer, musician and historical researcher. He was born and still lives in Murano, where he is the sixth generation in his family to use the ancient artistic technique graffiti on gold. The age-old “graffito” technique – the engraving of 24K gold leaf applied to glass – has been the legacy of the Toso Borella family for centuries. Marco’s highly sought after works are kept in private collections all over the world.

Pelletteria Artigiana Viviani is known around the world for its fine handcrafted leather goods. Renato Viviani and wife Delia opened the factory and workshop in the 1960s in Florence where they trained their daughter Viviana to become the Master Leather Craftswoman she is today. Viviana and her son Leonardo still run the shop, in the same place where her parents launched it so many years ago. Bringing their artistic sensibility and personal touch to everything they create, their unique craftsmanship is both beautiful and practical.

Master Goldsmith Paolo Penko picked up the art of handcrafting jewelry from his father. But Paolo also worked hard and took his craft to the next level while studying at the Art Institute of France. That is also where he met his wife Beatrice, an expert gemologist. Together, and working with their sons – the next generation, Alessandro and Riccardo, they are creating one of a kind jewelry masterpieces. Their handcrafted designs, often inspired by Florentine architecture, reflect centuries of history and tradition in their home city of Florence.

Leonardo Scarpelli carries on the art of Florentine mosaic known as commesso, working closely with his multigenerational family. First, he first sketches out his artistic design, carefully tracing each line with his scalpel. Then, Leonardo has to find the stones with the perfect color and shape to complete his masterpiece. He works with his sister, Catia, to find these stones - the brighter the better. He has to work with incredible detail, shaping stones for hours to fill in the mosaics and if they break he has to start over. Their father, Renzo, has owned this shop in Florence since 1972. Leonardo’s and Catia’s childhood passion evolved over time into their life’s work.

Dario Cecchini’s family has worked in handcrafted butchery for eight generations. Dario himself is sometimes called the most famous butcher in the world, and you can usually find him at his shop in the Tuscan village of Panzano. With his past veterinarian work and love for animals, he brings a unique perspective to his craft, using every part of the animals.

Dr. Giovanni Massimo is a trained pharmacist and has practiced for almost sixty years. He created plant based supplements and opened many pharmacies around the country. He then switched gears and started to make perfumes when he came across the manuscript of Catherine de Medici that had recipes for perfumes. He then started to hand make perfumes. Florence was the world capital of perfumery during the Renaissance thanks to Catherine de Medici book. Giovanni retired from full time work three years ago when Giovanni was 70 years old. Then his daughter, Francesca, took over. Francesca worked with her father in his pharmacies growing up. She left and pursued business management and even worked at Microsoft. She then came back to work with her father. She is now the owner of the company and works in their shop in Florence where they also have a laboratory.

The Maselli workshop of ancient prints and frames was founded in 1955 in Florence. In 1978, Paolo’s son, Gabriele Maselli, took over the management of the firm, specialising in gilding and restoration of artistic frames. Starting from a drawing, a picture, or a model to replicate, he creates a unique, broadly customisable product – from the kind of wood to the processing techniques, from the carving style to finishing operations. Also, the workshop performs restoration of frames and wooden objects from any age and type and has become a landmark for private clients, public bodies and museums.

Castello Del Trebbio and the surrounding land was bought by the Baj Macario family in 1968, transforming a testimony of history into the flourishing winery and agritourism company that it is today. Anna and Stefano create delicious olive oil and wine on site with a gorgeous countryside backdrop.

When it comes to artisanal foods, fresh truffles are culinary gold. Umbrians have harvested the elusive fungi for at least 600 years. Saverio Bianconi learned truffle hunting from his father, and eventually turned it into the family business. Saverio and his wife Gabriella started Tartufi Biancono in 1990. Today, Saverio and Gabriella are teaching the next generation, their two sons Andrea and Maurizio, how to hunt for truffles. And they also incorporate the family dogs!

Donatella, Gaia, and Simonetta are the daughters of Gualverio Michelangeli who was a successful wood sculptor in Orvieto. When Gualverio passed, the women carried on his style of sculpting by layering wooden shapes to build whimsical creations. Their creativity along with their detailed artisanal skills make their wood sculptures one of a kind.

Hand-painted ceramics is L’Antica Deruta’s specialty as it has been since 1950. That’s when Alviero Moretti started the company as a small atelier manually working with clay on a wheel using techniques dating back to the 15th and 16th century. The shop, now owned by the 4th generation, Giorgio and Camilla Morretti, follows Deruta’s ceramic tradition, keeping the tradition alive. Their boldly colored, intricately painted designs are what separates Deruta’s world-renowned majolica pottery from other types of ceramics.

Giuditta Brozzetti founded The Giuditta Brozzetti Workshop in 1921. It is now run by her great-granddaughter Marta Cucchia. Today Marta and her apprentice run one of the last hand-weaving studios in Italy, where they create gorgeous textiles on original working looms from the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s up to Marta and a shrinking number of her colleagues to preserve Perugia’s medieval weaving culture for future generations.

I Girasoli di Sant’Andrea, the famous company founded by the Gritti family, uses their Umbrian valleys to produce olive oil and wine. The climate in Umbria creates the perfect fertile soil, which is what motivated Ursula Gritti and her husband to start the business. For the olive oil, instead of using heat or chemicals, their team grinds olives by hand, making sure friction doesn’t cause the oil to lose flavor. For wines, I Girasoli di Sant’Andrea also likes to experiment with their own homegrown recipes. Ursula’s children, Andrea and Pilar, joined the company to continue their father’s dream after he passed away in 2006.

The Maselli workshop of ancient prints and frames was founded in 1955 in Florence. In 1978, Paolo’s son, Gabriele Maselli, took over the management of the firm, specialising in gilding and restoration of artistic frames. Starting from a drawing, a picture, or a model to replicate, he creates a unique, broadly customisable product – from the kind of wood to the processing techniques, from the carving style to finishing operations. Also, the workshop performs restoration of frames and wooden objects from any age and type and has become a landmark for private clients, public bodies and museums.

Castello Del Trebbio and the surrounding land was bought by the Baj Macario family in 1968, transforming a testimony of history into the flourishing winery and agritourism company that it is today. Anna and Stefano create delicious olive oil and wine on site with a gorgeous countryside backdrop.

Lovisa Loretta lives and works in Orvieto, Umbria, Italy. She has always been interested in manual and creative activities, as well as in new techniques. Loretta begun as a self-taught person to create several works. In 1999, after receiving an official certificate by the Province of Terni, she opens a school-laboratory. The reasons why she did this, is to reassess, recover and maintain the Orvieto lace tradition alive.

Giacomo Belil co-owns the Porte del Passato with his brother, which is a company that creates doors using recycled materials and restores ancient doors. His company is known all around the world for their work. The wood comes from old homes, from their floors, their ceilings, when these old houses get demolished.

Silvesrtri oil mill works with the motive force of water and with millstones that make possible to produce flour, bran, mince and auger; it is located within what can be considered a rare find of the oldest historical and cultural tradition of this region: the only fourteenth-century tower in Umbria that rises in the middle of the water for about three floors.

Siblings Stefano and Francesca and their father Romolo are the owners of Bottega Tifernate. Their goal is to recreate the most famous masterpieces of the Italian artists using the ancient renaissance technique. Romolo invented the pictographic machine to make the paintings more precise without losing their authenticity. They are the only ones in the world doing this kind of work.

Sisters Daniela Venturi and Monica Venturi are the dynamic duo of Le Sfogline with 20 years working together with their handmade pasta. Their precise work and family recipes help them create delicious tortellini and more. These master pasta makers carry on Bologna’s tradition of fresh pasta made with eggs. The sisters’ joy in the kitchen also makes its way into the food.

Antica Stamperia Marchi was founded in 1633 to produce heirloom quality printed cloth using centuries-old tools and techniques. Today, the Marchi family still uses their 500-year-old machine to create their smooth fabric, ready to be stamped with amazing designs. Alfonso Marchi with his daughter Lara and son Gabriele work together to create these beautiful masterpieces.

Massimo Chierici is a metalsmith artisan who specializes in creating artistic designs from iron. He is one of the last metalsmiths following the ancient wrought iron handmade tradition in Bologna, and possibly in Italy. Massimo runs Bottega Prata, a shop opened by master metalsmith Antonio Prata in 1930. Massimo learned everything he knows about metalsmithing from the Prata family and proudly carries on their family traditions. Massimo ensures that the traditional techniques mastered by Antonio are still used today in every sculpture he creates.

La Salumeria di Bruno e Franco is a salami store on the first floor and a pasta lab on the second floor where Mother Daughter team Grazia and Martina make pasta all day. They hold the family recipe for the famous Bologna dish - Pasta Ragu, which is pasta with meat sauce. After years of practice and with the age-old family recipe still intact, Martina and Grazia have become experts in their cooking. Both the meat sauce and the pasta in their iconic dish are homemade from scratch.

At their Acetaia, husband and wife Sandra and Luciano carry on the family tradition of producing tangy, sweet traditional balsamic vinegar. Sandra was born on the property and watched her grandmother also lovingly make vinegar so many years ago. On their property they grow three different kinds of grapes. Every grape has a particular smell, taste, flavor, and aromas. Their vinegar cellar holds the delicacy as it ages. Superior quality vinegar ages a full 25 years before it is sold.

For more than 40 years, Enzo Bonafe has been creating men’s high-end footwear using the most traditional craftsmanship techniques. Enzo and his wife Guerrina started the shoe making business back in the 1970s. Today, it’s a family business where they are joined by son Massimo, daughter Silva, and now granddaughter Benedetta. Love is included in every step of the process, from drawing the model, adding leather, sewing, and molding.

Angelo Vailati produces old design Spanish guitars; His master is a famous Spanish luthier, Enrico Botteli, and he taught him every secret of how to make Spanish guitars.

Marie Tinti is the daughter of the owner of the Frida’s flower chain. There are over 20 shops throughout Italy, but Frida’s Bologna was the first store. Marie is very passionate about flowers and her community.

In Acquarica del Capo, a small village near Lecce, the Siciliano family is carrying on a long, proud tradition as weavers. Sister brother team Anna and Patrizio are the current and fourth generation to run the family business. They work with the tall and wild grass called rush to weave and braid their beautiful creations. Their grandfather was a rush trader, and their parents, Francesca and Cesare Siciliano, were masters of rush intertwining. Francesca died last summer, but Cesare is still working every day even at his advanced age. Patrizio is a basket weaver, and Anna makes bags that are in high demand around the world.

The De Cagnas have been dazzling audiences with their light displays for more than 80 years. Their breathtaking displays have lit up the night sky all across Europe and as far away as Japan and North Korea. It all started with Cesario De Cagna’s father, who brought his singular style of illumination to town fairs and public spaces many years ago. Cesario picked up where his father left off and took the company from Italian institution to global sensation. Cesario's sons also now work in the family business.

In Lecce, some of the city’s true masterpieces are not chiseled from stone, they’re actually made of paper mache. The art of paper mache, also known as cartapesta, first came to Lecce in the 17th century. Claudio Riso began learning paper mache when he was just 15 years old from one of Lecce’s master makers. Today, Claudio runs his own business of paper mache dolls and has been creating his art for more than 40 years.

For centuries, Puglia has been known for its dazzling ceramics made with local clay. The only daughter after three sons, Enza Fasana had to fight a lot in the family to make her vision of ceramics and her revolutionary spirit understood. Enza’s family have been potters for three generations, but Enza’s take on the artform is more unique. Twenty years ago Enza, along with her husband and eventually their daughter Giovanna, started their own pottery empire. Enza and her ceramics, which incorporate traditional techniques with modern flare, are famous all over the world.

Grazia Agostino is a super grandmother and passionate educator in her town of Alberobello. The local association, Arteca, which Grazia is a part of makes it their mission to pass on local values and traditions - like making homemade pasta. Paola Girolami is one of Grazio’s cooking students. Grazio is teaching Paolo and others the fine art of making homemade orechiette, a traditional type of Puglian pasta. It’s also known as the little ear because of its round, cup-like shape. Orechiette is made with flour, semolina, and water. Without eggs, this pasta is more dense and pairs nicely with heavier sauces.

Luca Palma is an Ironsmith Sculpture Artist. Luca’s father was the first Ironsmith in his family, he made gates and doors. And at 15, Luca started learning the trade. But he always wanted to be an artist and took an artistic approach to bring an Ironsmith. Now he works as a blacksmith in the family business that deals with the creation of furnishings for the home and for catering, inheriting the gift of iron working from his father as well as being a well respected artist making sculptures out of metal.

Enzo Buttazzo is a sculptor of Lecce stone sandstone, a typical rock of Salento, calcarenite, made up of microfossils and macrofossils fragments of marine fauna, and of calcitic cement and clay. Buttazzo is one of the most famous sculptors of Lecce stone, according to a new concept. Experiment with new forms of Lecce stone, using ancient tools… the same ones used to work and carve wood. It hosts many foreigners for workshops intended to teach stone working techniques to make their own sculpture, in the peace of Salento.

Domenico Romano is a trullo master. The trulli of Alberobello follow one another next to each other, along alleys and streets paved with "chianche", creating truly unique and unrepeatable landscapes and magical atmospheres.

Leonardo Colucci is the creator of the tips of the trulli, a master trullaro for many years, specialized in the tips of the trulli. The tips of the trulli are in limestone, limestone, they are finishes, but also a sign of recognition among families or family groups. Also, they are a sign of status and job in a community. There weren’t house numbers on the trullis, so the pinnacles would act as house identifiers. Only the wealthier people would have pinnacles on their trulli.

Antica Lama is an old farmhouse (masseria) in the heart of the Itria Valley, which Marino and Mirellainherited from their peasant grandparents. The Masseria was imposing and has an underground stone oil mill, one of the most important in the whole area. Now it is in disuse because due to the long period of abandonment of agricultural activities by the parents, the farm has been looted, only the large stone wheel remains. Marino and Mirella have decided to return to nature, recover their family roots and enhance the historical and cultural heritage of the farm.

Liapull Avant Toi is an artisan company that believes in technology and innovation. Their machines are modern, but the basics are the same as they were 70 years ago when Lia Gambetta Ghignone founded the company. Dying an expensive fabric like cashmere was unheard of before Liapull Avant Toi, and now it’s what they are most known for. With their fabrics dyed using spray paint and hand coloring, every piece is unique. Lia’s children Fiorella and Mirko Ghignone, now head the company, and her granddaughter Giulia Marini represents the third generation.

Eugenio Boccardo is a chocolatier at Chocolate Viganotti, a chocolate boutique that started in 1866. The Boccardo family eventually took over what the Viganotti family started more than 150 years ago, though they still make chocolate and other treats the old fashioned way, by hand. One of Eugenio’s specialties is croccante, a praline that uses honey, sugar, and hazelnut. In true artisan fashion, they follow the entire production process to make chocolate - from bean to bar.

Sara Gismondi’s family began designing luxury goods for affluent nobles in the 1700s, and she continues the legacy with Gismondi Atelier. While there are many jewelers in Genoa, what makes Sara’s shop unique is her commitment to using traditional tools, just as her family did hundreds of years ago. Alessandro Loffredo, a talented goldsmith, joined Sara as her creative partner because he, too, was inspired by the traditional jewelry making tools Sara’s shop uses.

Francesco Topazio is the owner of Cantiere Navale Topazio, the boat building business his father opened in 1962. Their ancestors have been builders of Ligurian goiters and shipwrights since the mid-1600s. Francesco has always been a shipwright and he started working at a very young age, maintaining the techniques his family began using hundreds of years ago. Their legacy is building and repairing gozzo boats, wooden fishing boats, with a sundeck covering the hull. The salt levels in the Mediterranean cause common problems to these boats. Without the unique expertise of Francesco’s team, some gozzo boats would potentially never sail again.

Mila Celsi has been producing handmade clay ceramics for 40 years. She owns Fabbrica d'Arte Monterosso with her longtime friend and schoolmate Francesco Roberts. Though the art of ceramics reached its height in Italy during the renaissance, it wasn’t until this duo began their company in the 1980s, that ceramics were available for purchase in Monterosso.

Claudio and his wife decided several years ago to live a life closer to nature. Claudio is a fisherman and their two sons help in various activities. Pietro especially helps his father in fishing and fish tourism, but he is also a good cook and, above all, he knows how to clean and prepare fish well.

Franco Casoni is a sculptor and he specializes in two artforms, Polene (the Figureheads that are placed in front of ancient boats) and crozetti pasta stamps (crozetti typical pasta of Genova). He is thought to be the last encarver of Polene.

Daniela owns the tie shop Finollo which has been making ties since 1899. The shop was started by her grandfather, Emanuelle Finollo, after he chose to leave his family business which was chocolate making. He traveled across Europe and this experience inspired him to choose the tie-making business. Now Daniela, her daughter Francesca, and employee Marta continue this family tradition.