Giuseppe Sanna, artist-craftsman at L’Arte in Pietra

Our interview with the Costa Smeralda Prize-winning sculptor

When did you realize that stone was your medium?

Very early: I grew up in the family artisan business in Sorso, surrounded by marble, granite, and local stones. Ever since I was a child, I tried to spend as much time as possible in the workshop.

What fascinates you most about working with it every day?

The fact that it’s never ‘the same’: granite, basalt, marble, limestone, trachyte – each type and each ‘piece’ has a different hardness, grain, and response.

How important is craftsmanship?

It’s fundamental: the human eye captures details that no machine can interpret, without distorting the stone.

Giuseppe Sanna

Thanks to you, visitors can now take home a miniature of the iconic rock at the entrance to the Costa Smeralda. How did the idea come about?

It’s a symbol of identity, a block of marble left in its natural form, the only workmanship being the engraving of the inscription. The intention wasn’t to make a reproduction: stone can’t be ‘photocopied’. Numerous trials were necessary, and each work is unique.

You are also the creator of the Costa Smeralda Prize. How does it feel to think that your work will be on the desks of some of literary greats?

For the Costa Smeralda Prize, I also chose essential forms, using Sardinian stones on a crystal base as a symbol of the sea. Knowing that these works will endure over time, also in the hands of great personalities, is the greatest satisfaction.