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COLONIA EBANO
Encounter an ancient art, recognise it by its scent
Metropolitan rhythms, speed, lights and sounds. But wandering
among the narrow streets of the old quarter, everything becomes
more calm and collected. Travelling to Milan one happens to
encounter secluded and quiet spaces. Laboratories where for
centuries the art of cabinetmaking has been cultivated at its highest
levels. You first notice it in the scent of beeswax with which the
cabinetmaker caresses the wood until it gleams. In the subtle and
penetrating aromas of ebony and other precious woods that are
skilfully inlaid with each other. Sensory atmospheres that tell the
stories of masterpieces of Italian art and craftsmanship. Travel notes
enclosed in Colonia Ebano.
Italian cabinetmaking has its absolute geniuses. Born in the
Renaissance, it expresses its splendour in the Baroque Age and then
in the 1700s. The protagonist is the legendary Giuseppe Maggiolini,
and it is not by chance that he is defined as the prince of wood
craftsmen, called to work in the major courts of Europe and creator
of the furnishings of Villa Reale in Monza. Artisan and artist. Virtuoso
craftsman and at the same time ante litteram creative and designer.
Every piece he created is one of a kind. Neoclassical lines, essential
and with a pictorial sensitivity in composing elaborate and perfect
decorations. The Milanese cabinetmakers take up the grand tradition
of Maggiolini, as well as his mastery in giving