The term chiseling has always been equivalent adding the last refining touches and details. And that's what we do, by using ancient tools, which we often specifically recreate ourselves to obtain certain results.
The chisels, punches or chasing tools are the metal rods used to very carefully shape metal.
They all come with different faces, depending on the type of finishing surface required. Here are the some of the different punches we use: planishers, liners, ovals, curved liners, pearls chisels, planishing fullers, sheepsfeet, scrapers, textured faces, edge definers, and many more.

The ultimate craftsman of repoussè and chasing techniques in art-history was Benvenuto Cellini (1500 - 1571), the Florentine Renaissance goldsmith and sculptor. Among his greatest works there is the bronze statue of Perseus (Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence), the celebrated 'saliera' or salt cellar (Imperial Palace, Vienna), the Nymph of Fontainebleau (Louvre, Paris), and the Marble crucifix (Madrid, Escorial).
We owe Cellini for his treatsie on the art of goldsmithing; a must read for people in this business.

I started out in 1956 as an errand boy for the city's most important restorer of sacred works of art, namely, Alvise Pavan, who at the time was doing contract work for Saint Anthony's Basilica in Padua. I then worked for a silversmith until I decided to take the big leap in 1973, when I opened my own artisan shop and where I was both owner and employee.

It grew over time, and in 1987 I moved the business to Limena into a state-of-the-art building designed specifically to provide the very best, in terms of the quality and precisionneeded in my line of work.
I've always been passionate about holy objects. I like the complexity of their shapes and the chance to restore works of art - that are worth fortunes - to their original appearance of tens, or even hundreds of years ago.

When a job is particularly vital and delicate, I like to visit the site and see the context in which the work of art will be placed, so I can capture its essence. Only then do I start working alongside my competent staff, using the tools of our trade, because... I just can't help myself.

Unfortunately mine is a line of work that is disappearing. It is being eroded by industrial processes that tend to simplify and standardize the shapes of objects; thus, it will get harder and harder to find artisans skilled enough to build and repair such elaborate items.
To do this work properly, one needs to be driven from the inside.

In recent years our shop has hosted the Coppa Italia (Italy Cup), the prestigious football trophy of which we have recreated an identical gilded-silver copy for the championship winners, that wanted to keep it in memory. Whereas the original cup is passed on from team to team, year after year.
As far as sports is concerned, every year the Giro d'Italia orders gilding and silver plating of this prestgious Cycling trophy.
We made some of the gift chalices given to Pope John Paul II, as well as the silver plating and gilding of the cover of the Book of Gospels, offered as a gift to Monsignor Mattiazzo, the Bishop of Padua.
Our latest, prestigious work involves the gilded-silver halo adorned with red pips, fitted
above the revered statue of St. Anthony along with the smaller yet just as precious one, fitted around the head of the Baby Jesus held in St. Anthony's arms.
This work of art was given as a gift to the Saint's Basilica and features techniques that are also featured in the Basilica and that date as far back as the late middle-ages.
In June of 2013 Pittarello Gianfranco s.r.l. hand-crafted and gave a chalice to His Holiness Pope Francis as a gift to celebrate the General Audience. The silver chalice was engraved with the Papal Seal and Saint Anthony's Basilica.
Becasue we are not industrialized, and have no production line, we do not make series, or even large volumes. We prefer to dedicate lots of attention to each single item. The results we deliver from our shop are exclusively hand made. That means that each piece is unique.