Marziano Gizzi spent his career working with iron, but that was for practical purposes. Now, he works with iron for artistic enlightenment.
He spent his career in Chicago, retired about 15 years ago and moved to Goodland, the small fishing village just north of Marco Island. It’s a tight-knit community, known for its kicked-back attitude and colorful characters, including Giz, as he’s called in his adopted town. After he retired, he started tinkering with iron and metal again, this time as an art form.
He makes scrap-iron turtles, welded metal signs or just about whatever may strike his fancy. “I like it because there’s no rules, no boundaries,” he says. “It’s a challenge, but it’s fun. It keeps my motor running.”
Giz finds inspiration in the different places and people of Southwest Florida. He’s become a fan of an organic, vegetarian restaurant in Naples called Organically Twisted, 13040 Livingston Road. The funkiness of the decor and the general vibe of the restaurant spoke to him, so he started making art. Now, the restaurant has more than 20 of his pieces on display.
He spends his time in his art studio, which is right next door to his 100-year-old house in Goodland. That is, when he’s not puttering around town in what he calls his “art cart,” looking for scrap metal.
He’s not necessarily in this pursuit for the money, as evidenced by the first art show he entered, when he quickly sold most of his pieces. “I learned that people like what I make, and that I had to raise my price,” he says with a laugh.
Gizzi doesn’t have grand plans for his business. He just wants to keep doing what he enjoys, and hopefully, someone else will enjoy it as much as he does. “I’m not like a businessman,” he says. “I do it because I like it, just for the look on these people’s faces when they pick it up and say, ‘Did you make this?’”
