For this year’s Hunting in Art Prize, the prize jury of the CIC had made a decision to look for artisans producing high quality and beautiful guns. The rationale behind this decision was that the guns produced by some manufacturers truly are works of art!

The awards ceremony took place during the Official Closing of the 60th CIC General Assembly in Budapest on 30 April 2013. The jury received a number of nominations from several countries, all of which produce some exquisite guns for hunting. Finally, in what was a very tight competition, the jury decided to award the prize to the Italian nominee, Fratelli Piotti of Gardone, Provincia di Brescia.

At the awards ceremony, CIC prize coordinator Dr. Wulf Gordian Hauser stated: “I have personally seen the manufacturing operations of Fratelli Piotti last year, and I was very impressed by the fact that many manufacturing steps which are machined at the large gun manufacturers are done by hand with enormous dedication by the Piotti brothers. Hundreds of hours of dedicated work by the members of this family go into making a gun, and the results are true pieces of art.”

CIC President Bernard Lozé, who handed over the prize certificate, said: “One of the goals of the CIC is the preservation of the best traditions of hunting. For this, the traditional art of gun making is an excellent example, and Fratelli Piotti is a worthy recipient of this award.”

The head of the culture division of the CIC, Prince Alexandre Poniatowski, added: “The CIC sees as its task, besides the promotion of sustainable wildlife management, also the support of traditional artisan skills related to hunting, such as gun making. Fratelli Piotti provides an exemplary illustration of the high level of skills involved in traditional gun making.“