The earliest Italian scagliola is accredited to the school of Carpi, a wealthy town close to Modena in Emilia Romagna.  The material was used predominantly for the manufacture of inlaid altar pieces (paliotti), which were supplied by independent workshops competing with each other for commissions.  The scagliolists were generally educated and of a higher social status than their German counterparts; many came from aristocratic or religious backgrounds.

The importance of Carpi in the origins and development of seventeenth century Italian scagliola has at times been overstated by local historians keen to emphasise the achievements of their own region.  Nevertheless, the town undoubtedly produced some of the finest and most distinctive scagliola work of the  period.