He branched out on his own, opening in 1874 the Porta San Frediano, a factory of terra cotta statuettes, producing of glazed majolica in different genres both ancient and modern. Torelli needed a special furnace for his work, and designed the cylindrical furnace himself. Torelli made a stucco statuary group of an episode of the Battle of Palestro, with Vittorio Emanuele on horseback leading a charge, and the Zouaves dissuading him from entering into the danger.