Marco and the studio Gionanni: my plaster can be seen in the low left centre.

I spend the morning getting set up and finding a space to work. Fabio and Francesco take me off to the local café/bar for lunch but realise that me being a vegetarian here will be difficult. This is a hard-core local for the hunters, of which there are many here, and the place is full of tough-looking men who all enjoy the meat of the day, which no doubt, one of them shot the day before!

The menu is set, so I just have the vegetables and cheese, which to be honest is fine. I drink a glass of wine and finish with a coffee and this comes to a very cheap 7 euros. Still, I can’t afford to eat this every day so decide to cater for myself in the future.

I struggle to get through the day as its all new skills to learn; using the pointing tool which I get the hang of quite quickly but the power tools are a different matter.

The pointing tool is the traditional way to take measurements from the ‘master’ or sculptor’s work and transfer these into the marble. This method has been used for centuries and is one of the main reasons for me being here.