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Author: Battiston, Simone ; Grossutti, Javier P. Title: When arts and crafts education meets Fascism: the Friuli mosaic school, 1922-1943 Year: 2019 Journal: History of Education Volume: 48 Issue: 6 Pages: 751-768 URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/447016

Copyright: Copyright © 2018 the author(s). This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in History of Education, on 21 Dec 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline .com/10.1080/0046760X.2018.1542743.

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Simone Battiston and Javier P. Grossutti

Abstract

This paper examines the early history of the Friuli Mosaic School (FMS), an Italian arts and crafts school specialising in mosaic and terrazzo. The history of the FMS opens up a rare window into an often-overlooked field in the history of education: arts and crafts schools in Fascist Italy (1922-1943). Then, the FMS excelled in mosaic education and production and gained the trust of the regime, which notably commissioned the school to produce large mosaic works for the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome. Yet, as this paper contends, the

FMS-Fascist Italy relationship was primarily functional rather than political. Similarly, the FMS adopted a pragmatic approach in times of economic hardship by becoming an active agent for its students and alumni who were compelled to emigrate. The migrant trajectory of alumnus Ettore Lorenzini to the United States was paradigmatic of this.

Keywords

Arts and crafts education; mosaic; migration; Fascist Italy; United States.

Introduction

Located in the city of Spilimbergo, within the autonomous border region of Friuli-Venetia Julia in north-eastern Italy, the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli (Friuli Mosaic School, FMS) is a vocational upper secondary school that has offered a high-quality curriculum in mosaic and 1 terrazzo making since 1922. It accepts only a selected number of applicants each year through a rigorous filtering process. The FMS is a sought-after school, especially among international students who now make up nearly half of the student population. It is one of the 2 three leading centres in mosaic education in Italy as well as a magnet for the local tourism industry with its approximately 35,000 annual visitors3. The association of Spilimbergo with the FMS and the art and trade of mosaic is perhaps best embodied by its nickname ‘The City of Mosaics’ and by future plans for the European Museum of Mosaic Art adjoining the FMS school grounds. The FMS’s hosting of the XV World Conference of Contemporary Mosaic (Spilimbergo, 18-21 May 2016) further cemented the robust credentials of the school and the city. For almost a century, the FMS has been delivering specialist courses on mosaic and terrazzo floor-making, ranging from short summer modules to three/four-year, full-time courses for would-be practitioners. Some of these students have gone on to become highly sought-after artisans while others have

1 Mosaic is the “art of decorating a surface with designs made up of closely set, usually variously coloured small pieces of material such as stone, glass or ceramic […] called tesserae […] [that] are applied to a surface which has been prepared with an adhesive.” Terrazzo is a type of “flooring in which chips of marble are scattered at random […] or arranged to form simple linear patters on a cement matrix. On setting, the surface is ground smooth to show a cross section of chips through the mixture.” See: Manuela Farneti, Glossario tecnico-storico del mosaico. Con una breve storia del mosaico. Technical-Historical Glossary of Mosaic Art. With an Historical Survey of Mosaic Art (Ravenna: Longo Editore, 2001), 135, 155.

2 The other two mosaic schools are located in the cities of Ravenna and Rome.

3 Guglielmo Zisa, ‘Scuola Mosaicisti, l’attività è a rischio’, Messaggero Veneto, Aug. 28, 2014.

4 established themselves as artists in the field. Exceptional students have been given the opportunity to complete a fourth (Honours) year, allowing them to consolidate their art techniques, artisan skills and artistic bents. This paper examines the early history of the school, specifically during Fascist Italy (1922-1943). It seeks to better understand the FMS’s relationship not only with the regime but also with its mosaic community (students, alumni, industry) in times of economic hardship and authoritarianism. The early history of the FMS is re-examined in a context that also considers the pre-Fascist landscape of vocational education in Friuli, the process of formally structuring arts and crafts education and the evolution of artisan work between the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century in Italy including the emigration patterns of mosaic and terrazzo artisans and entrepreneurs before and after the First World War. The establishment of the FMS represented a turning point for the local vocational education sector and industry. The school’s mission to institutionalise, safeguard and teach the mosaic indirect method and the Venetian-style terrazzo techniques sparked the revival of 5 Friuli-based mosaic and terrazzo, ultimately ensuring its survival. The FMS merged tradition 6 and innovation and grew to become an interface for productive and cultural contexts. Specifically, it sought to equip students with the necessary skills to compete in the foreign labour market, where most of the mosaic, terrazzo and concrete paving job opportunities were to be found.

4 Olga Zorzi Pugliese has traced, for instance, the trajectory of several FMS alumni in Canada, see: ‘Beautifying the City: 1960s Artistic Mosaics by Italian Canadians in Toronto’, Quaderni d’italianistica 28, no. 1 (2007): 93-113; Olga Zorzi Pugliese, ‘From Friuli to Canada: The Art of Mosaic Transformed’, in Transformations of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic, ed. Anna Pia De Luca and Deborah Saidero (Udine: Forum, 2012), 25-48; Olga Zorzi Pugliese, ‘The Contribution of Friulians to Mosaic Work in Canada’, in The Friulian Language: Identity, Migration, Culture, ed. Rosa Mucignat (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014), 122-47.

5 The indirect method, along with other mosaic-laying methods taught at the FMS, has been explained exhaustively by Danila Venuto and Julia Zucchiatti, ‘Tecniche e metodi di lavorazione del mosaico nella Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli di Spilimbergo’, in La Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli. Bozzetti, documenti, fotografie, stampe e modelli, ed. Alessandro Giacomello and Antonio Giusa (Spilimbergo: Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, 2000), 529-34.

6 Maria Paola Frattolin, ‘Pictor Imaginarius et Magister Musivarius: From Roman Aquileia to the Dynamic Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli’, in Transformations of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic, 169.

This article is divided into four sections. The first introduces and discusses the concepts of institutionalisation of arts and crafts, the transformation of artisan work, and the role of craftsmanship before and during Fascism. These concepts are set against the background history of the FMS and the wider setting of vocational education in Friuli. The second explores the history of the FMS in the 1920s and 1930s. Despite the restricted emigration policy imposed by the regime in 1927 and the economic hardship and dearth of job opportunities caused by the Great Depression the interwar period was prolific for the FMS, as public and private entities commissioned a series of mosaic works. The third section focuses on the school’s corso libero. This remunerated in-house, integrated learning experience exposed students to cutting-edge practices in mosaic techniques and a funded placement. It also allowed the FMS to forge important collaborations with several contemporary artists, whilst providing more prosaically a key revenue stream in times of financial constraints and funding uncertainty. The fourth and concluding section traces the migrant life and work trajectory of alumnus Ettore Lorenzini in the United States. This section draws on his experience to showcase the migrant peregrination of Friulian mosaicists in the interwar period and the clear advantages of formal training.

Arts and crafts between institutionalisation, industrialisation and Fascism

Due to its geographical position and the role it played in the history of the Friuli-based mosaic and terrazzo, the FMS occupies a unique place in the regional vocational landscape. Vocational schools have proliferated in the region since the nineteenth century; they have fostered native artisan traditions and formalised training, from wood carving to wrought iron to stonemasonry. Significantly, they have served the purpose of upskilling the local labour force for migration experiences. Between 1876 and 1897, the province of Udine recorded the highest number of temporary departures from Italy towards European destinations. Until the outbreak of the First World War seasonal migration by trade and district was extremely common in Friuli. By the early twentieth century the local workforce knew that obtaining adequate formal training was essential prior to departure: formal qualifications meant better 7 jobs, improved salaries and professional development.

7 Lodovico Zanini, Emigrazione e scuola in Friuli (Udine: Del Bianco, 1912); Gabriella Bucco, ‘Le Scuole d’arti e mestieri’, in La Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, 27-49.

Until the early 1920s, mosaic and terrazzo training was characteristically passed on from one generation to the next by means of family members and trusted apprentices. The establishment of the FMS radically altered this modus operandi by institutionalising knowledge, thus making widely available skills and techniques that were hitherto scrupulously maintained in close-knit family-run businesses. It quickly grew to become a prominent player in the sector by promoting mosaic exhibitions and fairs, by overseeing the completion (and/or restoration) of important mosaic works in Italy and abroad and, ultimately, by becoming a vital networking agent for mosaic and terrazzo workers and the broader construction business community.

The advent of the FMS was organic to the evolution of the local society and economy. The geography and geology of the area surrounding Spilimbergo both contributed to the growth of the back-breaking yet lucrative mosaic (applied mostly on floors) and terrazzo industries over the centuries. Spilimbergo sits in the Pedemontana zone at the foot of the Carnic Prealps. Due to the numerous watercourses, often irregular and torrential in nature, that flow through this area from the northern mountain region to the southern plain, the Pedemontana features a peculiar geological configuration. The land is gravel-rich and grassy. The geological configuration that prevented intense farming until the mid-twentieth century allowed economic activities other than agriculture to become dominant. The exploitation of rocks and stones in virtually unlimited quantities in the local creeks and riverbeds led to the production of simply forms of ornamental paving. Documents dating back to the late sixteenth century show that large numbers of artisans and workers of terrazzo and mosaic from Friuli relocated 8 to Venice, which was regarded as the preferred marketplace and the ideal training ground. The process by which the FMS turned craft knowledge into formal education needs to be contextualised within the older process of establishing formal vocational education in Friuli. This had begun over a century earlier (when the region was still under Austrian rule), with the opening in 1821 of the first publicly funded drawing school for labourers in the city of Udine, 20 miles east of Spilimbergo. Numerous other arts and crafts schools were later established in the region with financial assistance from local municipal administrations, chambers of

8 Giovanni Caniato and Michela Dal Borgo, ‘Arte dei Terazzeri’, in Le arti edili a Venezia, ed. Giovanni Caniato and Michela Dal Borgo (Roma: Edilstampa, 1990), 141-58; Gianni Colledani, ‘Sassi/Claps’, in Dal sasso al mosaico. Storia dei terrazzieri e mosaicisti di Sequals, ed. Gianni Colledani and Tullio Perfetti (Sequals: Comune di Sequals, 1994), 16; Maria Paola Frattolin, ‘Pictor Imaginarius et Magister Musivarius’, 166-7.

5 commerce and industry, and mutual aid societies In the eyes of the local population and business community these schools carried the hope of improving low socio-economic conditions through formal training of the local workforce. Drawing schools, in particular, were a very popular education avenue when one considers that in the 1920s, the Friuli region accounted for the highest concentration and the highest number of students enrolled in such 9 schools in Italy. The development of formal and institutional courses of vocational training in Friuli, and in Italy at large, cannot be isolated from the international context either, primarily in consideration of the wider debate and farther ramifications generated by the Arts and Crafts movement. Emerging in Britain in the mid-nineteenth century, this movement became an important player in the decorative and fine arts as it fought to counter the detrimental effects of industrial manufactured products on craftsmanship and craft aesthetic. It advocated the re- establishment of the harmonisation “between architect, designer and craftsman and to bring 10 handcraftsmanship to the production of well-designed, affordable, everyday objects”. Besides developing its own aesthetic vision, the movement espoused a communal, Socialist- inspired ethic by promising “a new dignity for labor, an aesthetically beautiful environment, a gradual abolition of caste and class, and a moral and spiritual improvement of human 11 character”. In Friuli, the Arts and Crafts movement initially stimulated the production and promotion of locally made artisan products. Subsequently, during the Art Noveau and Art Decó periods it encouraged artisan virtuosity. By the 1930s and 1940s, Friulian rationalism had taken over and the reclamation of traditional artisanship was forced to make way for new, modern expressions. In applied arts terms, this translated into the evolution of artistic handcraftsmanship into artistic industry. Nevertheless, the collaboration between artisan and artist in Friuli continued well into the interwar years, becoming productive and mutually advantageous due to the high concentration of skilled artisans in the region. It was this factor that allowed artists or architects to rely on (and exchange ideas with) artisans, benefiting from their knowledge and expertise. Only in the 1950s did the role of the highly skilled artisan

9 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Le Scuole d’arti e mestieri’, 27-34.

10 Elizabeth Cumming and Wendy Kaplan, The Arts and Crafts Movement (London: Thames & Hudson: 2004), 6.

11 Andrew King, ‘William Morris Arts & Crafts Aesthetic Rhetoric’, American Communication Journal 10, no. S (2008), 2.

6 become marginalised as the artistic craft was superseded by industrial design and mass- production. In the post-Second World War boom period, pre-war production of specific crafts, such as wrought iron and copper, died out, whilst the local furniture manufacturing 12 industry thrived. Like other crafts, mosaic was not immune to processes of transformation and industrialisation. To begin with, the rediscovery of new mosaic-laying techniques had differentiated the division of labour from designer to maker to layer of mosaic. Revived in the nineteenth century the indirect method revolutionised the art of mosaic, producing unexpected artistic and commercial results. In the 1860s, this was made famous by the Friulian 13 entrepreneur Gian Domenico Facchina (Sequals, b. 1826 – Paris, d. 1903). This method, which has been further developed at the FMS, consists of executing the mosaic in independent stages. The mosaic is designed and made in the workshop on a paper backing previously cut into sections. Once properly glued to the paper backing, it can be easily transported and laid at a later stage in virtually any location. Thus, the designer, the maker and the layer of the mosaic do not necessarily need to correspond. Thanks to the innovative indirect method, Friuli workers and artisans have travelled the world since the early nineteenth century: initially (by using the indirect method) to restore the recently discovered antique mosaics in southern France (as for example did Facchina and many other fellow craftsmen), later to lay mosaics produced in ateliers (workshops) run by the (mostly Friulian) mosaic entrepreneurs.14 During Fascist Italy, the reputation of Friulian craftsmanship was enhanced by the regime: Friulian mosaicists were thought to be the successors of the art of mosaic-making of the ancient Roman city of Aquileia, some 25 miles south of Udine.15 The Scuola Mosaicisti

12 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Il labile confine tra arte e artigianato. Per una storia delle arti applicate in Udine’, in Le arti a Udine nel Novecento, ed. Isabella Reale (Venezia: Marsilio Editore, 2001), 201-3.

13 On the figure of the mosaicist and entrepreneur Gian Domenico Facchina, see, Lodovico Zanini, Friuli Migrante (Udine: Doretti, 1964), 159-70; Henry Lavagne, La Mosaïque (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1987), 113-7; Maryse Andrys De Stefano, ‘Jean-Dominique Facchina ou le mosaïste de l’Opèra’ (master’s thesis, Université de Franche-Comte, 1989); Maryse Andrys De Stefano, ‘Gian Domenico Facchina’, in Dal sasso al mosaico, 49-77.

14 Capucine Lemaître, La conservation des mosaïques. Découverte et sauvegarde d’un patrimoine (France 1800-1914) (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2009), 129-64.

15 Orio Vergani, ‘Pellegrinaggio tra gli artigiani d’Italia. Il miracolo millenario del mosaico’, Corriere della Sera, June 10, 1930.

‘Irene di Spilimbergo’, as it was then called, stated in a promotional brochure from the early 1930s that the school was one of the very few arts and crafts outlets that could rightfully claim a meaningful link with the local artisan tradition and one that was tasked to institutionalise and teach such tradition.16 This arbitrary appeal to national heritage and ancestral artistic and craft traditions was an important means of building consensus around what the founder of the Futurist movement, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, defined as “the Italian pride” and an important way of shaping the “patriotic education of the proletariat”.17 But it also served as the subject par excellence (that is, the art of Italian civilisations: Roman, Christian and Renaissance) “to affirm the superiority of the Italian people and continued to be one of the strengths of the country’s prestige abroad”.18 Moreover, Italian craftsmanship at large served the regime’s goal of showcasing the inventiveness of Italian manufacturers to the rest of the world as well as proactively extending the political influence of Fascist Italy well beyond its national borders. Notably it provided the government with the opportunity to 19 further extoll Italian nationalism along the nation’s eastern borders.

The Friuli Mosaic School, 1922-1943

The history of mosaic and terrazzo is connected to the village of Sequals and the neighbouring community of Solimbergo in the Spilimbergo district, which has long been

16 Scuola Mosaicisti “Irene di Spilimbergo” – Spilimbergo (Friuli), Archivio Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli

(henceforth, ASMF), B/20, folder 2. Please note that all archival material in Italian from the ASMF has been translated by the authors; ‘Una scuola-fucina del mosaico’, La Panarie 14, no. 80 (1938): 65-74.

17 Emily Braun, ‘L’arte dell’Italia fascista: il totalitarismo fra teoria e pratica’ in Modernità totalitaria. Il fascismo italiano, ed. Emilio Gentile (Roma-Bari: Editori Laterza, 2008), 89-90.

18 Idem. Braun distinguishes between ‘totalitarian art’ and ‘art under a totalitarian regime’ and places the artistic production of Fascist Italy in the second group. According to Braun, in fact, at least until the mid- 1930s, Fascist cultural politics allowed a pluralism of styles (even of modernist art forms) and granted ‘free zones’ to members of creative professions. For a general overview of the fascist mythology on craftsmanship and the corporate system see e.g. Silvio Lanaro, Nazione e lavoro. Saggio sulla cultura borghese in Italia, 1870-1925 (Venezia: Marsilio Editore, 1979).

19 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Il labile confine tra arte e artigianato’, 201.

20 considered the cradle of these arts and crafts in Friuli. In Sequals, the need and desire to formalise the teaching of the newly (re-)discovered indirect method emerged in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but all attempts to establish a viable mosaic school were short-lived. In the post-First World War period, the possibility of establishing a school gained traction in the socially progressive programme of the Umanitaria, a Milan-based mutual aid society for 21 the disadvantaged, emigrants included. Established as a non-for-profit organisation in 1893 with a bequest made by a wealthy Italian Jewish entrepreneur, Prospero Moisé Loria (Mantua, 1814 – Milan, 1892), the Umanitaria championed initiatives in the welfare, education, labour and vocational training sectors that aimed at promoting economic and social advancement for the most vulnerable within Italian society. Others who gave their support were the socialist Filippo Turati, political economist Giovanni Montemartini, educator Maria Montessori and conductor Arturo Toscanini.22 In Milan the Umanitaria ran its own arts and crafts schools, which were deemed 23 to be the best in the country for curriculum design and management. In Friuli, the Umanitaria had been operating since 1899, but it was not until the interwar period that several projects, including the establishment of arts and crafts schools, were funded. Devastated by battlefronts, trench warfare and a year-long occupation by Austro- Hungarian forces, war-torn Friuli was in urgent need of aid. The war produced devastating effects socially and economically which, together with the cut-off of the traditional, vital migration route to Central and Eastern Europe, caused a rapid rise of unemployment. The solution for the improvement of Friulian society and its economy, the Umanitaria acknowledged, was to be found in new vocational education opportunities. Accordingly, it funded the reconstruction, or the establishment, of several arts and crafts schools, including

20 Lodovico Zanini, Per i mosaicisti e terrazzai del Friuli (Udine: Società Umanitaria – Delegazione di Udine, 1920).

21 Lodovico Zanini, Ricostruzione. Un anno di iniziative in Friuli (Udine: Del Bianco, 1921), 3-6.

22 Riccardo Bauer, La Società Umanitaria Fondazione P. M. Loria Milano 1893/1963 (Milano: Società Umanitaria, 1964); Veronica Riccardi, L’educazione per tutti e per tutta la vita. Il contributo pedagogico di Ettore Gelpi (Rome: PhD diss., University of Roma Tre, 2013), 28-9.

23 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Le Scuole d’arti e mestieri’, 42.

9 one for carpenters in Maniago (a village 7 miles west of Sequals) in 1920 and one specialised 24 in woodcarving in Udine in 1921. In 1920, the Umanitaria approved a funding request that had been presented by a group of 25 local jobless mosaicists for a mosaic school in Sequals. The initiative was expected to formally teach the local workforce, now left jobless by the war, useful craft skills rather than 26 instil any artistic ambitions. The termination of temporary migration flows caused by the war, in fact, interrupted the informal professional training of minors and young people. These were people who had been learning a trade, working alongside their fellow villagers who were experienced terrazzo workers, mosaicists, masons, stonemasons in Central Europe construction sites and laboratories. In conjunction with the Sequals City Council and a pool of local mosaicists (some of whom had been running successful firms abroad), the Umanitaria in 1920 went ahead with the school project and established the Cooperativa Mosaicisti which was a school with an annexed workshop. Expectations were high that, once fully operational, most of the operating expenses would be covered by the dual structure of the school- workshop cooperative, e.g. through the profits from the sale of mosaic products manufactured in the school’s workshop. Starved of funds, however, the school closed after one year; only the workshop survived. The Umanitaria was forced to rethink the whole school project and looked elsewhere for a fresh start. In 1921, the Socialist mayor of Spilimbergo, Ezio Cantarutti, showcased his town to the 27 Umanitaria’s delegate Lodovico Zanini as the ideal site for the new mosaic school. Persuaded by the modern amenities and infrastructure Spilimbergo offered, as well as their joint progressive values, the Umanitaria gave the school project another opportunity. The Spilimbergo City Council gave access to the teaching facilities in a former military barracks complex in the city centre. Antonio Suzzi (better known by his stage name, ‘Sussi’), an elderly Venetian painter, professor of Fine Arts and mosaic expert, was nominated school

24 Lodovico Zanini, Ricostruzione, 7-12; and Lodovico Zanini, ‘Le iniziative dell’Umanitaria. La Scuola d’Artieri di Maniago’, La Patria del Friuli, April 1, 1920, 1.

25 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Programmi e didattica nella Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli’, in La Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, 107-8.

26 Danila Venuto, ‘La Scuola dalle origini al 1941’, in La Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, 51.

27 ASMF, B/22, folder 1, Letter of Ezio Cantarutti to the Società Umanitaria, August 22, 1921.

28 director (1922-1927). Sussi was assisted by Andrea Avon, who had been involved in the creation of the Sequals school-workshop. A former trainee of Facchina, Avon was a senior mosaic expert who had made a name for himself in Venice and abroad and embodied the 29 quintessential mosaicist of his generation. Sussi devised an industry-oriented curriculum supported by cultural subjects. The curriculum covered three years of study and included such subjects as mosaic design, drawing theory and practice, French language and commercial correspondence. The three-year course curriculum was initially modelled on the evening drawing classes. In year one, students learned about geometric and ornamental design as it applied to mosaic and terrazzo-making. Learning from models and copies of ancient mosaics from Venice, Ravenna and Sicily and studying various mosaic techniques was the focus of year two. In year three, students increased their knowledge of mosaic, ranging from techniques to colours to material (i.e., mosaic tesserae of artistic glass, marble, etc.). All students were trained in the signature mosaic technique of the school, the indirect method. The average school day included 30 practical classes from 7am to 9am and theory classes from 9am until 12pm. The school opened in January 1922 with only a handful of students. Enrolments increased steadily and by the end of decade, more than 160 students were enrolled at the FMS. In line with other arts and crafts schools, the FMS raised the hopes of the lower socio- economic classes. It was one of the very few affordable post-primary education options (in a pre-mass education era) for the offspring of working-class, peasant and underprivileged families. With the exception of local evening drawing schools, prohibitive costs prevented any other alternative school options. The FMS welcomed students from all walks of life, including those whose parents were seasonal labourers, many of whom had emigrated abroad as mosaic and terrazzo workers, plasterers, bricklayers, carpenters, stonemasons, stonecutters and kiln men. School records reveal that the occupations of the students’ parents also included blacksmiths, farriers, tailors, farmers and shopkeepers. In addition to promoting mosaic and terrazzo skills, its maintenance and transmission, the FMS also unwittingly supported social

28 Danila Venuto, ‘La Scuola dalle origini al 1941’, 53-4.

29 While in Venice, Andrea Avon was commissioned to lay the wall mosaics for the Thomas Jefferson Library at the Library of Congress, Washington in 1896. Once ready for laying, the mosaics were shipped to the United States and affixed by Friulian mosaic artisans living in New York City. See, Library of Congress Archives, Buildings & Ground Series, Subseries 1 ‘Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building’, Box 87.

30 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Programmi e didattica nella Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli’, 109.

11 mobility, which was rarely experienced in rural areas that were still marked by rigid social structures and limited schooling. However, one of the most pressing concerns facing the FMS in its early days was financial stability. By 1923, funding from the Umanitaria ceased as it could not guarantee any further 31 contribution beyond the inaugural school year. The meagre financial resources provided by the Ufficio (later Consorzio) Provinciale per l’Istruzione Tecnica (Provincial Office [Consortium] for Technical Education) did not allow for the full implementation of the school programmes and initiatives. Vocational schools had to rely on the assistance of other public and private entities. As far as the FMS was concerned, subsidies and earnings from the commercial workshop covered part of the school expenses, while the Spilimbergo City Council met management costs. But irregular contributions often left the school in a difficult financial situation. Financial uncertainty was very soon to be combined with political upheaval. The appointment of Fascist Benito Mussolini to the prime ministership led to the resignation of the mayor of Spilimbergo Ezio Cantarutti, who had been elected in 1919 but resigned in protest 32 against the Fascists taking power in the country in 1922. Hitherto, his Socialist-driven, reformist agenda matched that of the Umanitaria, in so far as they both looked to promote the socio-economic status of large strata of the population and the reduction of the high rates of illiteracy. Their projects included in the municipality the establishment of middle and evening 33 schools, mutual aid workers’ societies and labour cooperatives, and of course the FMS. Unreliable financial contributions and radical political change were not deterrents, nonetheless, to the implementation of the school’s external engagement plan. Throughout the

31 Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli 1922-2012. 90 anni di storia (Spilimbergo: Consorzio per la Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, 2012), 21. Please note that in 1924 the Fascist regime took charge of the Umanitaria and nominated a new Board of Directors who only answered to a Government representative: “Then, for twenty years the Umanitaria ceased to be an exemplary guide of social initiatives that were seminal to the progressive movement of Italian workers”, see Riccardo Bauer, La Società Umanitaria, 159.

32 Mario Mirolo, ‘Ezio Cantarutti. Sindaco di Spilimbergo nei due dopoguerra’, Il Barbacian 24, no. 2 (1987): 15-17; Gianni Colledani and Claudio Romanzin, Storia di Spilimbergo (Pordenone: Edizioni Biblioteca dell’Immagine, 2009), 159-60.

33 Angelo Filipuzzi, ‘L’opera della Società Umanitaria nello Spilimberghese’, Il Barbacian 22, no. 1 (1985): 21-6; Luigi Antonini Canterin, Come un frutto spontaneo della libertà. Società operaie, scuole di disegno e cooperative nel distretto di Spilimbergo (1866-1917) (Udine: Banca di credito cooperativo di San Giorgio e Meduno, 2000).

1920s and 1930s, the FMS participated in several shows, exhibitions and fairs, some of which were of very high calibre: the National Arts and Crafts Exposition in Bolzano in 1930; the first and second exhibitions of Fascist Youth Organisation Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) in Udine in 1933 and 1936; the Triennale Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Arts of Milan in 1933; and the National Arts and Crafts Fair of Florence in 1934 and 1937. Through shows, exhibitions and fairs, the school sought to increase its profile and gain widespread recognition. It also acquired access to high-level contacts within the Fascist regime. At the ONB exhibitions in Udine, the FMS came to the attention of Renato Ricci, head of the ONB and 34 Undersecretary of State for Physical Education.

Thanks to Ricci, the FMS was commissioned to produce several, multi-year mosaic projects at the Foro Mussolini (now Foro Italico) sports complex in Rome for a total of approximately 10.000 square metres. Initially designed by architect Enrico Del Debbio, the Foro was modelled on the ancient Roman forum but served the more prosaic goal of re- creating an ideologically grounded monumentality with modern rationalist elements. The Foro was (and still is) one of the best examples of monumental architecture complexes typical of Fascist times in Italy. Novecento Italiano art-inspired wall and floor mosaics prepared by the school on designs of artists Gino Severini, Giulio Rosso, Angelo Canevari and Achille Capizzano were laid between 1933 and 1937 in several loci of the Foro, including the Stadio dei Marmi, the Casa delle Armi, the Piscine coperte, the Piazzale della Sfera and the 35 Academy of Physical Education. For the school, working for and at the Rome complex meant engaging with the aesthetics of Fascism on a very large scale. The FMS was not responsible for the design of the mosaic subjects which sought to immortalise the glories and virtues of Fascism, but it provided unique solutions when translating the artists’ designs into mosaic. It meant the use of the technique taught at the school, the indirect method (the mosaics were prepared in Spilimbergo and later laid in Rome) with the adoption of Roman-style technique in which the tesserae were hand-cut and unpolished, which was much better suited to the aesthetic quality of the

34 Danila Venuto, ‘La Scuola dalle origini al 1941’, 55-6.

35 Michelangelo Sabatino, ‘The Foro Italico and the Stadio dei Marmi: Monuments and monumentality’, in Foro Italico, ed. Giorgio Armani, Luigi Ballerini and Michelangelo Sabatino (powerHouse Books: New York, 2003); Eva Maria Modrey, ‘Architecture as a Mode of Self-representation at the Olympic Games in

Rome (1960) and Munich (1972)’, European Review of History: Revue européenne d’histoire 15, no. 6 (2008): 699.

13 images. This was the case, for instance, of the athletes designed by Angelo Canevari: a floor mosaic with eight black silhouettes on a white background left unpolished to create an unsophisticated and moving effect. The FMS had to constantly liaise with the ONB, artists and architects to adopt the best solutions for executing mosaics from the artists’ designs. They often dealt with challenging tasks such as the decoration of the walls at the swimming complex of the Piscine coperte, which were based on designs by different artists and styles, and the application of different materials, e.g. glass and marble tesserae, both polychrome and 36 black and white.

Often working with tight deadlines and complex designs, the FMS proved to be a reliable and trustworthy supplier for the ONB as it guaranteed the preparation and laying of mosaics at the Foro on an ongoing basis and in a timely fashion. For the school, on the other hand, the Foro commissions assured practical experience and employment for students, alumni and the local Friulian workforce, not to mention the return in terms of image and prestige. This mutual trust reached its peak, so to speak, when Renato Ricci inaugurated the new school premises on 25 April 1936, during his brief visit to Friuli.

Yet, the ONB-FMS relationship was chiefly pragmatic and functional. Notwithstanding the FMS being so closely connected to the regime hierarchy, its presence in Rome never received any attention from the Fascist propaganda machine. This is even more remarkable considering that mosaic was one of the epitomes of the Fascist mythology of romanità, and that the regime was unashamed to use archaeology and expressions of romanità as a tool for its 37 political propaganda. Incredible as it might seem, the ONB took full credit for the completion of the sports complex’s mosaic works and the FMS received not a mention in the booklet published for the Foro’s inauguration. Indeed, the Istituto Luce newsreel cited some four hundred mosaicists from a fictitious ONB school instead of the FMS, as having completed the 38 mosaics at “Fascist speed” when Mussolini inaugurated the Foro on 19 May 1937.

The FMS was not central to the regime’s discourses of Fascist education either, despite schools and youth training becoming the vanguard of political indoctrination during Fascism. In order to form a loyal and ideologically sound citizenry the regime sought to inculcate the school curriculum with Fascist ideology introducing two reforms: the Riforma Gentile of

36 Danila Venuto, ‘La Scuola dalle origini al 1941’, 69-75.

37 Laura Malvano, Fascismo e politica dell’immagine (Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 1988), 151-6.

38 Archivio Storico Istituto Luce, Giornale B1095, Terminata la pavimentazione in mosaici il Duce presenzia all’inaugurazione del Foro Mussolini, May, 19 1937, http://www.archivioluce.com.

1923 and the Carta della Scuola of 1939. The former marginally affected the FMS, which was under the direct control of the Provincial Office for Technical Education, not the Ministry of Public Instruction. The latter was meant to create the middle school with three streams, including one ‘artisan’ and one ‘professional’ but war efforts and the collapse of the regime 39 led to it being postponed until after the Second World War. Equally, the attempt at political indoctrination was only in part successful, if one considers that a Fascist and popular culture 40 subject was only added as late as 1938. But the influence and impact of Fascism was felt in other ways. Under the stewardship of Antonio Baldini (School Director, 1928-1941) the FMS joined the Fascist Industrial Union so the school benefited from regime contacts at both the local and national levels. The Comitato Friulano per le Piccole Industrie (Friulian Committee for Small Enterprises), created by the industrial sector to develop a policy supporting local artisanship, invited the FMS to take part in promotional shows and regional exhibitions. Along with the Comitato, the regime also undertook initiatives that focused on supporting and providing greater visibility to made-in- Italy products and crafts. In 1932, for example, the Ente Nazionale per l’Artigianato e la Piccola Industria (National Authority for Artisanship and Small Enterprises) invited the school to take part in a promotional newsletter in six languages (it boasted a circulation of 30,000 copies) about Italian mosaic making. In 1938, the Federazione Fascista degli Artigiani del Friuli (Fascist Federation of Artisans of Friuli) invited the FMS to contribute to the monograph Friuli, illustrating the main political, economic, cultural and sporting 41 achievements of Fascism in the region. Fascist symbolism found its way into a series of publicly or privately commissioned mosaics. Besides several fasces and portrays of Benito Mussolini, the FMS was responsible for the allegorical mosaics of the shrine to the Fascist martyrs of Piacenza (1933), the Roman she-wolf of the medieval Torresin gate tower of Oderzo (1936), and the mosaics for the aeronautic school of the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (Italian Fascist Youth) in Forlì (1938). Perhaps, one of the most tangible signs of the process of Fascistisation was to be found in the

39 Richard J. Wolff, ‘“Fascistizing” Italian Youth: The Limits of Mussolini’s Educational System’, History of Education, 13, no. 4 (1984): 287-98.

40 Danila Venuto, ‘La Scuola dalle origini al 1941’, 60.

41 ASMF, B/16, folder 7, Letter of the National Authority for Artisanship and Small Enterprises to the School, February 16, 1932; folder 10, Letter of the National Education Ministry to the School, April 25, 1935; folder

9, Letter of the Udine branch of the PNF to the School, August, 24 1938.

15 continuing involvement of students, alumni and younger members of the teaching staff in the compulsory pre-national and national service duties in the lead up to the Second World War, 42 as stressed by oral history testimonies. Yet, evidence suggests that the relationship between the FMS and Fascism was governed by a functional and mutually beneficial approach, with a limited exploitation of the FMS as a tool for political propaganda.

The corso libero

From its inception, the FMS has pursued three objectives: educational, promotional and entrepreneurial. The last of these was intended to integrate student learning with paid work experience while helping to alleviate the financial constraints the school habitually suffered due to irregular external funding contributions during the interwar and war periods. Thus, the school workshop, the commercial arm of the FMS, offered students a cutting-edge experience in mosaic techniques, professional support and much needed revenue for both the trainees and the school. In 1925, the school workshop was established in a joint venture with the Venice- based mosaic company Cav. Angelo Gianese, providing essential financial support. However, the entrepreneurial nature of the workshop, albeit financially justified, risked seriously jeopardising the independence and integrity of the school. As a commercial entity, the Gianese company gave scant importance to the guidelines set up by the school curriculum, and after a few months of straightforward cooperation, difficulties began to arise. When the City of Spilimbergo’s reorganisation scheme for vocational schools under its control came into effect in 1927, the agreement between the FMS and the Gianese company was not renewed. The school-run workshop continued to operate but under the management of the City of Spilimbergo. Sussi, who objected to the reorganisation, stepped down and was replaced by Antonio Baldini, the new School Director. Meanwhile, the City of Spilimbergo assigned the management of the workshop to Gino Avon (Andrea’s son) who was a member of the FMS teaching staff as well as a renowned mosaic artist and artisan entrepreneur. Hopes that the workshop would resume its activity and become an important asset for the FMS after its troublesome start were dashed in 1930, as the school discovered that Avon was actively encouraging students to drop out from school and work for his private workshop; he was

42 Simone Battiston, I mosaicisti raccontano. Storia e memoria di un mestiere in Friuli (1920- 1950)(Portogruaro: Nuovadimensione, 2010), 129-31.

16 subsequently dismissed. As the first negative effects of the global employment crisis began to appear, the lack of a functioning workshop became a concern. Moreover, the Fascist Regime’s 1927 closure of the Commissariato Generale dell’Emigrazione (Emigration Secretariat) which up until then had been running professional courses for terrazzo and concrete finishers (cementisti) since the early 1920s, deprived the region of an important 43 vocational education avenue. By the early 1930s, however, new projects, ideas and directions turned the precarious situation around. In 1931, the City of Spilimbergo sold the old school premises and began construction of the new ones (the current FMS school grounds). Unexpected support came from abroad with a yearly contribution of $500 from the U.S.-based National Terrazzo and 44 Mosaic Association (NTMA) from 1929 to 1933. In 1930, the FMS launched courses of study for terrazzo makers (terrazzieri, or terrazzai) and concrete finishers alongside the existing one for mosaicists. The school sought to address the industry’s needs at that time, i.e. more 45 terrazzo makers and concrete finishers than mosaicists. Becoming increasingly concerned about its ever-growing enrolments, the school’s decision to launch a terrazzo and cement- making course turned out to be a winning move. Ten years after its establishment, the number of FMS mosaic graduates was saturating the sector, thus demonstrating that the course for terrazzo and cement workers had successfully diversified educational opportunities in response to market demands, especially from abroad. Baldini was saddened to realise the inevitable “artisan rather than academic function” of the FMS but conceded that the sector’s use of terrazzo was growing rapidly and that some students showed more interest in gaining

43 Commissariato Generale dell’Emigrazione, Appunti per gli operai allievi delle Scuole Cementisti (Pordenone: Arti Grafiche Pordenone, 1921); and Stefano Gallo, ‘Educare chi se ne va: i corsi statali di alfabetizzazione e formazione professionale per gli emigranti in Italia (1920-1926)’, Rivista di Storia dell’educazione, 3, no. 1 (2016): 89.

44 Equivalent to an average of 9,182 lire per annum, see http://www.measuringworth.com/. Twenty-seven

Italian-American terrazzo and mosaic contractors (mostly from Friuli) established the NTMA in Chicago in 1924. Javier Grossutti, Italian Mosaicists and Terrazzo Workers in New York City. Estimating the Size, Characteristic and Structure of a High-Skill Building Trade (Columbia University Academic Commons, 2007), 1-17.

45 ASMF, B/17, folder 1, Letter of the Prefectorial Commissioner of Spilimbergo to Antonio Baldini, December, 23 1929.

46 “artisan skills” rather than pursuing “artistic knowledge”. Yet, Baldini claimed that FMS graduates occupied an intermediary role between artists, on the one hand, and untrained workers doing menial jobs, on the other. He argued the school was to produce artisans who were well trained, qualified and capable of autonomously interpreting the demands of both artists and the market. Unsurprisingly, Baldini’s views clashed spectacularly with those of renowned Venetian mosaicist Augusto Agazzi, who held orthodox notions of the mosaic profession (mosaicists could only become as such after years of training in situ, not through 47 school training) and art techniques (only the traditional, direct method was acceptable). In other words, for Baldini FMS graduates were to be able to engage, intellectually and practically, with all actors involved in the mosaic process, from design to laying. In 1931, the FMS launched the corso libero (lit. ‘unstructured course’) which was intended to revive the fortunes of the school workshop while offering paid educational work to current and former students for a maximum of four years post-graduation. FMS graduates were in demand and typically earned more than the average worker in the sector, but increased competition in the labour market demanded work-ready qualified mosaicists or terrazzo experts. Furthermore, the corso libero offered an equitable share of the profits (10% to the school, 20% to the teaching staff, 70% to the students). The financial contribution made by 48 the corso libero to the limited funds of the school was substantial. The works commissioned in the corso libero were wide ranging serving quite a diverse clientele, both public and private. The FMS was asked to interpret (or provide) the designs for the mosaics, engage with different artistic styles, collaborate with contemporary or more traditional art movements, and employ diverse materials and techniques. Several mosaics adorned churches, chapels and cemeteries. For instance, in the school year 1932/33 the FMS was contracted by the Scuola del Beato Angelico in Milan, well-known known for its mystic, symbolic and simple figure compositions, to produce a mosaic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the neogothic church of Most Reverend Jesuit Fathers of Roncovero (Piacenza). Other commissioned mosaics recalled more traditional genres. This was the case, for example, of

46 ASMF, B/21, folder 1, School Year 1929/30 Teaching Report, January, 15 1931; School Year 1930/31 Teaching Report, December, 20 1931; School Year 1933/34 Teaching Report, October, 24 1934.

47 Gabriella Bucco, ‘Programmi e didattica nella Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli’, 116-17.

48 By November 1936, the corso libero covered the budget deficit generated by the academic courses, which amounted to 30,830 lire. See, Simone Battiston, I mosaicisti raccontano, 76.

18 the Renaissance-motivated Pietà, designed by Baldini for the cemetery chapel of the Pogliani Family of Milan, and completed during the school year of 1933/34. More importantly, corso libero commissioned works enabled the school to collaborate with a string of contemporary artists, such as Marcello Nizzoli, Guido Marussig, Avgust Černigoj, along with the previously-mentioned Gino Severini, Giulio Rosso and Angelo Canevari for the Foro works. This collaboration was fundamental to the adoption of a contemporary and innovative approach to mosaic-making that included cubo-futuristic (Nizzoli), realistic (Marussig), and abstract and avant-garde experimental (Černigoj) 49 approaches.

Preparing craftsmen for foreign markets: The migrant life and career trajectory of Ettore Lorenzini

Ettore Lorenzini was born in 1913 in Anduins, a village in the municipality of Vito d’Asio, approximately 11 miles north of Spilimbergo. His father, Angelo, was a stonemason who migrated to Germany seasonally until the outbreak of the First World War. Angelo’s working life epitomised that of many other Friulian men whose income from hard work in construction sites and furnaces in North and Central Europe constituted the basis of their household economy. When Italy (then ally of the British and the French) declared war on the Austro- Hungarian Empire in 1915 and Germany in 1916, Italians residing in the Central Powers countries were regarded as enemy aliens. It was estimated that as many as 85,000 Friulian emigrants, mostly brickmakers and bricklayers, stonecutters, stonemasons, masons, mosaicists and terrazzo workers, emigrated back to Italy from Germany and the Austro- Hungarian Empire. Angelo was one of them, returning to his home village of Anduins. With the end of hostilities, scores of Friulians turned to emigration once again. Most of those who had previously emigrated to countries along the Danube River basin now looked for better working opportunities in countries such as the United States (at least until 1924), Argentina or France. Different primary sources have helped reconstruct the transnational careers of Angelo and his family, whose experiences were typical of skilled migrants from Friuli. They also better contextualise Ettore’s recollections. After a few years in the United States, Angelo became a

49 Danila Venuto, ‘La Scuola dalle origini al 1941’, 60-9.

19 naturalised American and dreamed of taking his whole family abroad, but his wife Giulia (née Gerometta) preferred to remain in Italy. For the first time since moving to the United States, 50 Angelo finally travelled home in 1926 returning to Giulia and their five children. His long four-year absence had paid off. Thanks to the savings he had accumulated, Angelo had enough money to build a four-story, twenty-bedroom guesthouse. He would rent it to tourists visiting the then well-known spa and hot springs area in the municipality of Anduins. Yet, real estate investments in his country of origin offered no guarantee of long-term stability or of a fixed return and when the Great Depression hit the building sector Angelo, who had returned to the United States in the meantime, made his way back to Italy in September 1931. In the Spring of the following year, he was lured once more to the United States by a lucrative job offer only to have this opportunity fall through, resulting in his return to Anduins by the winter of 1932. Ettore’s migrant life trajectory begins within the context of decreased immigration and increased militarisation of Italian Youth by the Fascist regime from an early age. Restrictive 51 measures adopted by the United States de facto excluded new immigrants from Italy. Ettore’s career as a stonemason, like that of his father and older brother Silvio, would have been sealed had he not been the victim of a car accident in which he broke his collarbone. Afterwards, Ettore decided to try less physically demanding work and enrolled in the three- 52 year course for mosaicists at the FMS in 1927. He excelled in his studies, and in 1928 he 53 placed amongst the top-performing students. To avoid compulsory pre-national service, however, he had to leave Italy before his 18th birthday. As the underage son of an America citizen, Ettore was fortunately able to avoid the hurdle of immigration quotas.

50 Ellis Island oral history project, series EI, no. 162: interview of Debra Heid (National Park Service) with Ettore Lorenzini, Exeter (Pennsylvania), May, 26 1992. Available on

51 The Immigration Act of 1924 allowed an annual quota of 2% of any given nation’s residents in the United States, as reported in the 1890 census. The new quota for Italians was set at approximately 42,000, which was painfully inadequate when compared to previous immigration numbers.

52 Ellis Island oral history project, series EI, no. 162: interview with Ettore Lorenzini.

53 The “Irene of Spilimbergo” Professional School (Diurnal for Mosaicists and Evening for Artisans) Yearly Report 1928-1929, 35-6.

On 11 March 1930, before the end of the school year, Ettore asked to sit the final test in 54 his advanced coursework – his departure for the United States was scheduled five days later. His request was granted and he arrived in New York aboard the Italian liner SS Conte Biancamano on 31 March 1930. He joined his father in Watchung, New Jersey. Three days later, he promptly wrote to Baldini explaining his whereabouts, proving his strong attachment 55 to his ‘alma mater’. Ettore started working with his father not as a mosaicist but as a stonemason. Unhappy with his job, he then decided to put his qualifications to use and began 56 contacting mosaic companies in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Ettore received offers from some companies, including one from De Paoli and Del Turco, the owners of which (Bruno De Paoli and Luigi Del Turco) were both from Friuli. It was no coincidence that Ettore turned to them for work. Before leaving for the United States, he had done some background research by consulting a catalogue of NTMA members that he had 57 found at the FMS. He was able to do a little mosaic work, and what he learned at school did not go unnoticed. Correspondence from his first 12 months in the United States shows Ettore in various places from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Wilkes-Barre, West Pittston, and Clarks 58 Summit, Pennsylvania. A thank-you letter to Baldini dated 3 May 1931 illustrates the clear advantages of formal training:

Thank God, work is going well. I have always worked for this company called United Marble and Tile Co. Wilches Barre [sic.] Pa., and I am happy it is an American company where there is only one Italian, or rather Neapolitan, superintendent, but there is little mosaic work, so we have to do a bit of everything, and we mostly do terrazzo work […] Thanks to you and the school diploma that I got, I could register with the America’s International Union to be able to work with mosaics and terrazzo floors. I can consider myself lucky, as in this time of crisis, they don’t register many with the union because many that have already registered are not working; however, the pay is even less, but never

54 ASMF, B/20, folder 3, Letter of Ettore Lorenzini to the Presidency of the “Irene of Spilimbergo” School (Diurnal for Mosaicists), March, 11 1930.

55 ASMF, B/20, folder 3, Letter of Ettore Lorenzini to Antonio Baldini, April, 3 1930.

56 Ellis Island oral history project, series EI, No. 162: interview with Ettore Lorenzini.

57 ‘Retired Member Recounts Life as a Mosaic Worker’, BAC Journal: The Official Journal of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, 2 (2007), 15.

58 ASMF, B/20, folder 3, Letter of Ettore Lorenzini to Antonio Baldini, 20 October 1930; Letter of Ettore Lorenzini to Antonio Baldini, May, 3 1931.

mind – I hope it’ll change. I was also waiting to go and work with Luigi Del Turco in New York but nothing yet. He probably doesn’t have any work. Last year in July, he guaranteed I would get a job within a year, but I haven’t received any news. Some sacrifice is needed to get something good. I hope he will keep his promise because I really want to do mosaics, as I was lucky to learn it and I certainly don’t want to give it up. If it’s not today, it’ll be tomorrow. But there is a company in New York – I don’t really know its address – that now has a big mosaic job which will be for at least two years, so I’ll try to get some information […] about it, as it could be good for me. However, it’s an American company, but sometimes the American ones are better than Italian companies. I know enough English to get by, but you need time to understand it well if I could attend an evening school. They are everywhere here, but with my job, I always move from one city to another. Actually, in two days, I have to go and work in the State of New York, that is, in the capital of New York, Albany. It’s a fairly 59 big job but all terrazzo work.

In 1931, Ettore joined the Scranton local branch of his union as a stonemason, yet most of his working life was devoted to terrazzo work. At the United Marble and Tile (later Anthracite Marble and Tile) Company where he worked the longest, he was hired for his mosaic abilities, but it was terrazzo works in churches, schools, banks and the like that led him to 60 travel all over Pennsylvania and New York. Ettore completed numerous valuable projects in his long career. By the age of 20, he had proven his great artistic ability and was awarded many terrazzo projects. In 1936, he was commissioned by a New York architect to install a 400 square-foot multi-coloured terrazzo map of the world in the main entrance of the Post Office building in Washington (renamed the Nancy Hanks Center in 1983). He created a mosaic of an anthracite miner in the First National Bank of Wilkes-Barre, a terrazzo floor in the Basilica of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Danville, and a mosaic on the front altar at the Saint Anthony of Padua church in Exeter, all located in Pennsylvania. Ettore Lorenzini’s professional success in the United States bears witness not only to his highly praised craftsmanship and artistic talent but also to the commendable quality of the education and training offered by the FMS. Baldini confirmed the positive experience of Ettore and other students who migrated abroad in 1931:

it is encouraging to learn […][that] the young alumni working abroad […] are not touched by the widespread dismissals thanks to the skills acquired at the school. It is particularly important to notice how

59 ASMF, B/20, folder 3, Letter of Ettore Lorenzini to Antonio Baldini, May, 3 1931.

60 Ellis Island oral history project, series EI, no. 162: interview with Ettore Lorenzini.

today their knowledge and practice of drawing contribute to making them irremovable and essential for 61 entrepreneurs, as capable of working independently.’

Friulian mosaic and terrazzo entrepreneurs in the United States visiting the school also 62 confirmed the FMS’s very high level of quality education in mosaic art. For Italian- American mosaic and terrazzo contractors, the yearly NTMA contribution to the FMS was not just the result of deep ties to their country of origin; rather, it was proof of the importance attributed to an upwardly mobile and financially rewarding trade. In February 1931, NTMA president Richard S. Knight wrote to Vincenzo Lanfrit, FMS President and podestà (Fascist mayor) of the City of Spilimbergo stressing that the education imparted

by the school would be no doubt of a great advantage to those FMS students seeking 63 employment opportunities in the United States after graduation, as Ettore Lorenzini’s experience well demonstrated.

Conclusion

This paper has sought to shed light on arts and crafts schools in Italy during Fascism by looking into the early history of the FMS. Such history has been contextualised within the wider setting of vocational education in Friuli and anchored in the broad concepts of institutionalisation of arts and crafts, transformation of artisan work, and the role of craftsmanship before and during Fascism. The FMS experience was also examined within the ancestral tradition of mosaic, which is embedded in the history of the Friuli region and characterised many of its craftsmen for generations. Born out of economic circumstances and employment needs triggered by the First World War, the FMS was established in 1922. It aimed to fulfil the long-standing aspiration for formal training of the local population. The area had been renowned for centuries as a breeding ground for craftspeople such as Gian

61 ASMF, B/21, folder 1, School Year 1930/31 Teaching Report, December, 20 1931.

62 This was the case of mosaic industrialists Mr Tramontin, originally from the village of Cavasso Nuovo, operating in the Detroit area, and Mr Luigi Del Turco from Sequals, operating in Harrison, New Jersey, who were mentioned for decorating the lining of the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River. See, The “Irene of Spilimbergo” Professional School (Diurnal for Mosaicists and Evening for Artisans) Yearly Report 1928- 1929, 14.

63 ASMF, B/16, Letter of Robert S. Knight to Vincenzo Lanfrit, February, 7 1931.

Domenico Facchina, who had not only brought mosaic and terrazzo to the rest of the world but had also created international demand for this craft. Due to its non-elitist nature, the FMS was open to students from all walks of life and played an important role in the promotion of mosaic education and production with local and national bodies. Under the stewardship of Baldini, the FMS participated in several exhibitions and was recognised as a centre of excellence in mosaic education and production. Simultaneously, it came in close contact with the regime and some of its top-ranking officials, gaining their trust and most importantly winning significant mosaic commissions. Yet, the relationship between the FMS and Fascism appeared to have been functional and mutually beneficial, rather than political. The large mosaic works commissioned from the school for the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome was a case in point. They provided, first and foremost, much-needed work opportunities for students and alumni alike, who through the corso libero – the remunerated in-house, integrated learning experience – were given cutting-edge practice in mosaic technique and a paid placement. Then, they brought prestige and visibility to the FMS, whilst allowing it to build important collaborations with several contemporary artists. Lastly, they provided a key source of revenue for the school in times of financial constraints and external funding uncertainty.

The functional, pragmatic relationship of the FMS with the employment demands of the local population was also reflected in the relationship of the school with its students, alumni and the mosaic and terrazzo industry. The migrant life and work career of Ettore Lorenzini is paradigmatic of this, as shown by the role the FMS played in accommodating his employment aspirations and needs (like those of many other would-be migrants too). It also serves as a telling example of the importance of pre-emigration qualified vocational training during Fascist Italy.

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