Leopardi, who lived from 1450 to 1525.

The inlay of wood has been called marquetry and intarsia, and was
used principally on furniture and choir stalls. Labarte gives the
origin of this art in Italy to the twelfth century. The Guild of
Carpenters in Florence had a branch of Intarsiatura workers, which
included all forms of inlay in wood. It is really more correct
to speak of intarsia when we allude to early Italian work, the
word being derived from "interserere," the Latin for "insert;"
while marquetry originates in France, much later, from "marqueter,"
to mark. Italian wood inlay began in Siena, where one Manuello is
reported to have worked in the Cathedral in 1259. Intarsia was
also made in Orvieto at this time. Vasari did not hold the art in
high estimation, saying that it was practised by "those persons who
possessed more patience than skill in design," and I confess to a
furtive concurrence in Vasari's opinion. He criticizes it a little
illogically, however, when he goes on to say that the "work soon
becomes dark, and is always in danger of perishing from the worms
and by fire," for in these respects it is no more perishable than
any great painting on canvas or panel. Vasari always is a little
extreme, as we know.

The earliest Italian workers took a solid block of wood, chiselled
out a sunken design, and then filled in the depression with other
woods. The only enemy to such work was dampness, which might loosen
the glue, or cause the small thin bits to swell or warp. The glue
was applied always when the surfaces were perfectly clean, and
the whole was pressed, being screwed down on heated metal plates,
that all might dry evenly.