Italian Terrazzo Workers

The terrazzo worker specializes in the construction of tile floors. Small pieces of granite, limestone or marble are mixed with cement and scattered on a supporting floor of sand and cement in a variety of patterns. After smoothing it, the toughest, most important and precise work begins: sanding. At the end of the nineteenth century, this craft was introduced in the Netherlands by craftsmen from Friuli in Northern Italy. The first terrazzieri got a reputation by implementing prestigious projects, like the construction of the floors in the Peace Palace in The Hague, which opened on 28 August 1913. Soon after, orders for new housing started to pour in.