Born into a family of ceramic decorators whose history in Nove stretches back to the nineteenth century, Polloniato left the district to study painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. He returned not to replicate the past, but to salvage it. His work involves a delicate process of gathering historical molds—originally used by local factories in the 1700s—and physically altering them to create new, singular forms. He calls himself an artiere, a term that quietly merges the vision of the artist with the technical precision of the craftsman.
The town of Nove was once a titan of the Venetian Republic’s industry. Its history was forged in 1728, when the Senate granted special privileges to produce majolica to compete with foreign imports. For centuries, the local economy thrived on the rhythmic clatter of mills crushing quartz pebbles gathered from the Brenta riverbed. But the economic crisis of 2009 and the pressures of global mass production left many of the district’s family-run workshops silent.
A new peer-reviewed study now documents how Polloniato’s trajectory has become a model for regional regeneration. The research identifies a "return to community" phase in his career, where the individual artisan becomes a catalyst for the collective. By prioritizing cultural value over industrial output, he has helped the district reclaim an identity that was nearly lost to generic trade classifications.
In the quiet of his workshop, the sensory link to the past is found in the cool, chalky dust of the plaster. Each piece Polloniato casts from an old mold is a rejection of the disposable. Through the hands of a single artiere, the heavy history of a town is being reshaped into something light, modern, and enduring.