History

It was right after the end of World War II that our grandfather, Giuseppe Citti, took the first steps in what would become the family business.

Grandpa Giuseppe had emigrated to Belgium in search of fortune in 1936, when he was little more then a teenager. There he learned the plaster figurines techniques from other “villagers”, who were trying to restore some hope and build a better future for themselves away from home, just like him. Those were tough and hard times, everything was changing very quickly, and then Giuseppe had to return to Italy to fight the war. In the early ’50s, thanks to the knowledge gained in Belgium, he begins manufacturing plaster statues and dogs with spring heads, a classic symbol of Bagni di Lucca’s tradition at the time.

The real turning point of his production came at the beginning of the ’60s . Thanks to an acquaintance’s revelations on the natural rubber processing formula, Giuseppe starts to manufacture rubber molds for works of art too. Everything is still handcrafted, with the only machine being the one to knead gum, and only few models available, but plenty of passion. That was an instant success, such that the same rubber formula is still employed today, along with some improvements brought over the years.

In time, new artistic models and design solutions belonging to different styles and eras came to enrich the production. An essential and great contribution to our company’s growth was brought by our father Silvano, who managed to further expand the company, bringing in new models and new working solutions. At the end of the ’80s Silvano moved the workshop, from the previous 150 square meters to a location of some 400 square meters, also in Bagni di Lucca. By the end of the ’90s he moved again to the current company premises, consisting of more then 5000 square meters, 3000 of which designed for keeping and storing original works and their molds. During that period the company was updated and new manufacturing and control strategies were developed, raising the quality standards.

Now it’s time for us, Flavio and Gianluca to take over. We are the third generation of leaders of a company with more then 50 years of history and we have the same passion and enthusiasm of our fathers. Today there are more then 4000 models in our collection and you can see them in the product section of this website; the collection is regularly upgraded with new creations, thanks to the partnership we established with our sculptures and artists. We are lucky to live in a wonderful part of Tuscany, Bagni di Lucca, where you can still feel the figurine makers’ tradition and its deep roots in local history. Those roots are still a source of inspiration for our artistic research, providing our products with an added value, the value of the Made in Italy.