An early reduction operation in model-based marble carving in which the block is trimmed down before the main roughing and pointing stages.
Spuccettatura is documented by Le voci del marmo as the reduction of the marble block at the beginning of copying from a reduced model. It removes obvious surplus mass and brings the block closer to the dimensions required for subsequent roughing.
Etymology
Italian workshop term.
Sculptor Notes
This is an economy-of-stone operation: remove what is certainly unnecessary while preserving generous safety around everything that may become part of the final sculpture.
References
https://levocidelmarmo.sns.it/lista_video.php