Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry

Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry

Diploma awarded to the foundry for the casting of the horse, Sacrifice
Native name	Fonderia Artistica Ferdinando Marinelli (FAFM)
Industry	Metalworking
Founded	Florence, Tuscany, Italy, 1905
Key people	Ferdinando Marinelli, founder; Ferdinando Marinelli Jr., owner
Products	Statues and Monuments in Bronze
Website	http://www.fonderiamarinelli.it

The Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry (Fonderia Artistica Ferdinando Marinelli, abbreviated as FAFM) established in Florence in 1905, is an Italian bronze casting workshop best known for producing bronze sculptures and recreations using the Renaissance-era technique of lost-wax casting.^{[ citation needed ] [1]}

Works associated with the foundry include the 1998 bronze casting of the modern La Fontana del Porcellino in Florence’s Loggia del Mercato Nuovo ^[2] and a bronze casting of the United Nations’ Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial . The Foundry also creates original bronze sculptures. ^[3]

History

Replica of Pietro Tacca's Porcellino . Florence, Loggia del Mercato Nuovo

The Foundry was founded in 1905, when Ferdinando Marinelli established a small workshop on Via de’ Giudei (now Via Ramaglianti) in Florence. Marinelli, born in Piegaro, Perugia, moved to Florence as a teenager and apprenticed under artisans such as Cusmano Vignali and Gabellini, where he learned both stirrup manufacturing and the lost-wax casting technique. ^[4]

In 1915, Marinelli joined Alessandro Biagiotti's Fonderia. ^[5] After World War I, he purchased the late Gabellini's foundry on Via del Romito (now Via Filippo Corridoni). During this era, the foundry created monuments commemorating World War I, including works in Piazza Dalmatia (Florence), Poggio a Caiano, Barberino Val d’Elsa, and Cerbaia, collaborating with artists like Mario Moschi and Odo Franceschi.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Marinelli Foundry also produced monuments for Barberino Val d’Elsa and Cerbaia. In 1925, the Foundry erected the monument to the painter Giovanni Fattori. In 1927, the Florence Chamber of Commerce listed the foundry among local artistic industries; independent sources describe its continued use of traditional bronze casting methods. ^[6]

Notable castings

Year	Artist	Title	Location	Country	Photo
1925	Valmore Gemignani	Giovanni Fattori	Livorno	Italy
1927	Mario Moschi	Monument to the Fallen Monumento ai caduti	Piazza Dalmazia, Florence	Italy
1929	José Belloni	The Pioneer's Cart La Carretta dei Pionieri	Parque Batlle, Montevideo	Uruguay
1930	Guglielmo Colasanti	Madonna degli Angeli	Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi	Italy
1930	José Belloni	William Tell Gugliemo Tell	Parque Rodó, Montevideo	Uruguay
1932	Antonio Maraini	Bramante Staircase, Vatican Museums	Vatican City	Vatican City
1932 [7]	Posthumously of Michelangelo	Pietà , Museo Soumaya	Mexico City	Mexico
1939		Tomb of Pope Pius XI	Vatican City	Vatican City
1944	Vico Consorti	Door of Thanksgiving Porta della Riconoscenza	Siena Cathedral	Italy
1949	Leo Friedlander	Sacrifice	Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC	United States
1950	Vico Consorti	Porta Santa Holy Door	St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City	Vatican City
1953	Giovanni Cappelletti	Christopher Columbus	Newport, Rhode Island	United States
1960	Valteroni	Door, Cathedral of Oropa Porta della Cattedrale di Oropa	Sanctuary of Oropa	Italy
1969	Mario Moschi	Sacred Heart Door Porta del Sacro Cuore	Basilica del Sacro Cuore, Sassari	Italy
1972	Bruno Burracchini	Catherine of Siena	Fortezza Medicea, Siena	Italy
1984	Sergio Benvenuti	Fountain of the Two Oceans Fontana dei due oceani	San Diego, California	United States
1989	Robert Dean	Monument to Dwight Eisenhower Monumento a Eisenhower	Grosvenor Square, London	United Kingdom
1998	Posthumously of Pietro Tacca	Porcellino Fontana del Porcellino	Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, Florence	Italy
1998		Restoration of Kremlin Halls	Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow	Russia
1999		Handrail, Vatican Museums Corrimano della Nuova Rampa dei Musei Vaticani	Vatican City	Vatican City
2001	Sergio Benvenuti	Broncos' Fountain	Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver	United States
2006	Posthumously of Giambologna	Bacchus Bacco	Borgo San Jacopo, Florence	Italy
2007 [8]	Posthumously of Ghiberti	St. Matthew San Matteo	Orsanmichele Church, Florence	Italy
2008	Posthumously	The Etruscan Minerva Minerva Etrusca	National Archaeological Museum (Florence)	Italy
2008 [9] [10]	Valentina Stevanovska	Warrior on Horseback	Macedonia Square, Skopje	North Macedonia
2008	Posthumously of Donatello	David (with gold plating)	Bargello, Florence	Italy
2010	Posthumously	Chimera of Arezzo	National Archaeological Museum (Florence)	Italy
2013	Arto Tchakmaktchian	Espoir	Laval, Quebec, Montreal	Canada
2018 (restoration)	Paul Manship	Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial	Palace of Nations, United Nations Office at Geneva, Canton of Geneva	Switzerland

References

1. "Fonderia Artistica Ferdinando Marinelli Srl | Unioncamere". www.unioncamere.gov.it. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
2. "Porcellino come nuovo, e tutti a sfregare - Corriere Fiorentino". corrierefiorentino.corriere.it. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
3. Maria Maugeri, La Fonderia Artistica di Ferdinando Marinelli a Rifredi, EDIFIR Firenze 2006
4. Maugeri, Maria (2005). Pietro e Niccolò Bazzanti 'Negozianti di Belle Arti'. Firenze: EDIFIR.
5. Maria Maugeri, La Fonderia Artistica di Ferdinando Marinelli a Rifredi, EDIFIR Firenze 2006, pag. 27
6. M. Salvini, Le industrie artistiche nella provincia di Firenze, Firenze, 1927, p.109
7. "Original Bronze of Michelangelo's Pieta Now on Public Display at St. Patrick's Old..." Reuters. Archived from the original on 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
8. Nazione, La (2007-04-06). "A Casa Buonarroti la Pietà in bronzo". La Nazione (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-01-06.
9. luiss_smorgana (2011-06-21). "Macedonia, la statua di Alessandro Magno in piazza Skopje". Blitzquotidiano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-01-06.
10. Zola, Matteo (2011-07-03). "MACEDONIA: Cosa resta di Alessandro il Grande? La statua che fa arrabbiare Atene". East Journal (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-01-06.

See also

• Foundry
• Bronze
• Conservation and restoration of cultural property
• Firenze
• Porcellino
• Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio Art Gallery

43°29′03.6″N11°08′06.0″E / 43.484333°N 11.135000°E / 43.484333; 11.135000