The fame of the figurinai, itinerant craftsmen making plaster statuettes called figurines, spread from Italy to almost everywhere in Europe from the 18th century onwards.
Most of them came from Sicily and the Luques region in Tuscany.
The greatest Italian figurine makers were in the Caltagirone Bongiovanni – Vaccaro workshop. This began with Giacomo Bongiovanni (1772-1859), younger brother of Salvatore, a sculptor in Rome, and later his nephew Giuseppe Vaccaro, born in 1809, was also associated.
