Ancient Cotto Furnace

Our Story.

The charm of tradition, the elegance of craftsmanship, the selection of materials, and the professionalism of workmanship. This is all part of the Tuscan red terracotta from Fornace Cotto Antico.

Piero Chiacchella’s first steps in the world of terracotta production date back to 1976, when he began working for one of Italy’s leading brick manufacturers. Fascinated from the very beginning by the world of clay, he began an intense study of the material’s potential alongside his work, specializing in handmade products and continually experimenting with new production techniques.

Field experience, combined with ongoing research, led Piero Chiacchella to establish Fornace Cotto Antico in 1994 near Acquapendente (VT), on the border between Umbria and Tuscany, specializing in the production of handmade Tuscan red terracotta. Since then, the company has grown, thanks in part to the arrival of new energy in 2004, represented by Eleonora, Piero’s daughter, who decided to continue the family tradition, temporarily putting aside her career in scientific research.

Initially, Eleonora handled production, actively participating in the creation of the products, from molding the bricks to the firing and unfiring stages. As her father said on her first day at the company, “To run a company, you must be able to participate in the production process at every level.” Today, Eleonora leads the company. Drawing on her past experience, she, like her father, has sought to experiment and discover new products, including enamels and crystalline, as well as black and grey bucchero.

Our Work

What sets our products apart is that we continue the tradition of creating floors hundreds of years ago, using the same techniques and production methods. And it is precisely thanks to this that our materials evoke and convey the warm atmosphere typical of Italian farmhouses.

Tradition without neglecting innovation, which is why we’ve expanded our product range by introducing glazed tiles. This is a special type of terracotta that undergoes a second manufacturing stage: each tile is glazed and then re-glazed. Ideal for bathroom and kitchen floors and walls.

What particularly excites us about our work is observing the natural way in which water and clay blend into a single material that not only resists time and the most extreme weather conditions, but has minimal impact on nature.

Let’s be clear: low-quality flooring will cost you much more than you imagine! Don’t give in to the temptation to buy foreign or semi-finished products, because when you count them, they’ll turn out to be more expensive than a strictly handmade, guaranteed Italian product.

The desire to keep the culture of our region alive by producing artefacts rich in history (as in the case of the former convent of San Francesco del Monte) is what drives us every morning to light the kiln and get our hands dirty with clay.