Artigiani di Via Calderai

On the edge of the ancient Jewish quarter of Palermo, Via Calderai took the place of the Kemonia River and has been the site of the metalwork of yesteryear for over two centuries.

Known as “e quararari“, once the copper welders of this street of crafts produced braziers, bronze pans and a large pot called “quarara” to boil potatoes, a week of processing the molten copper sheet then turned shaped, tinned, and hammered by different tools and skilled artisan hands. After the war, via Calderai alternated boilermakers, fountain workers, tinsmiths, turners and manufacturers of oil lamps, forks but also zineffe, awnings and fly catchers. The remaining shops are animated by blacksmiths, sons of the Masters who molded iron sheets into flues, aluminum sheets in trays and artifacts for the kitchen. Today they create objects for domestic use, fast food, and catering, as well as aluminized sheet and steel for cruets and table cruets. Tools are still forged with mechanical engineering tools, pedal or crank operated, to use less electric light.

This street is described as early as the 1800s as “perhaps the most tumultuous site in all of Europe, where considerable blocks of tin are piled up for the manufacture of lamps, forks and other table and kitchen utensils.”

A place broken by the rhythm of beating on metal. A rhythm punctuated by the precise blows of the mallet guided by the skilled hand of the many artisans.