With over 6,000 artifacts, among which historic dress from the 16th century to the contemporary as well as theatrical costumes and accessories, Palazzo Pitti’s Costume Gallery can be considered the only museum of fashion history in Italy and one of the most important in the world.
The Cerratelli Foundation has an inestimable collection of over 25,000 theatrical costumes and 20,000 related objects among which posters, photographic documentation and sketches all of which have been inherited from the famous Florentine Casa d’Arte Cerratelli and are now available for public viewing and consultation.
The Medici Archive Project is a not-for-profit corporation that plays a leadership role in the field of historical research. The chief focus of the Project's activity is the Archive of the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany (1537-1743), housed in the Archivio di Stato in Florence, Italy. The Project is achieving the following goals in collaboration with institutions around the world:
-creating worldwide public access to the historical data in the Medici Granducal Archive by way of a fully searchable on-line database.
-developing new technological solutions for information management in the humanities through the pioneering challenge of accessing the Medici Granducal Archive.
-training emerging scholars in the values and methods of archival research through hands-on work in the Medici Granducal Archive.
-encouraging the publication of documentary material, in the Medici Granducal Archive and elsewhere, in print and electronic formats.
-advocating the importance of the Medici Granducal Archive and other documentary sources in achieving a full understanding of human activity in past ages.
The Palatine Gallery, perhaps the most famous of the Palazzo Pitti museums, houses a large ensemble of over 500 principally Renaissance paintings, which were once part of the Medicis' and their successors' private art collection. The gallery, which overflows into the royal apartments, contains works by Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Rubens, and Pietro da Cortona.
The Royal Apartments consist of a suite of 14 rooms, formerly used by the Medici family, and lived in by their successors up until the Kings of Italy in the beginning of the 20th century. Although these rooms have been largely altered since the Medici era, and most recently in the 19th century, after recent restoration work they have maintained the splendor of the Royalty for which they were intended. They contain a collection of Medici portraits, many of them by the artist Giusto Sustermans as well as period furnishing not found elsewhere in the Pitti Palace.
The Medici Chapel (behind the church of San Lorenzo) is where the members of the Medici family have been buried since the first half of the 15th century. The Museum of the Chapel is famous for the New Sacristy where there are tombs by Michelangelo for Lorenzo and Giuliano de’Medici, an Italian Renaissance masterpiece of sculpture and architecture.
National Museum of Palazzo Reale, Pisa
The Museum of Palazzo Reale was inaugurated in 1989 in the 16th century palace built for Grand Duke Francesco I de’Medici by Bernardo Buontalenti. A Court Museum, the collections derive from private donations and from the Medici collections of the Lorena and Savoy (1859), families who chose Pisa and the Palazzo Reale as their residence for centuries. The museum has the flavour of a dynastic home, of which 14 of its 21 room are now open to the public
The Museum was set up by Frederick Stibbert (1838-1906), a man of extraordinary talent, son of an English father and Italian mother. The Stibbert Museum is especially noteworthy because of its famous armoury, which includes European, Middle Eastern and Japanese pieces dating from the 15th – 19th centuries. Stibbert set it up in his unusual house-cum-museum in accordance with 19th century taste, which required the reconstruction of highly evocative settings. The British Institute of Florence, established in 1917 and granted a Royal Charter in 1923, was the first of the British cultural institutes to operate overseas and served as a model for the establishment of the British Council in 1934.
Its objectives as defined in the 1923 Charter were to promote understanding between the citizens of Italy and the countries of the British Commonwealth through the maintenance in Florence of a library illustrating Italian and British culture and the promotion of the study of the English and Italian language and the cultures of both countries.
The Antico Setificio is heir to the great textiles tradition of the Florentine Renaissance and still creates fabrics of very special quality and color, working only on beautiful antique 18th- and 19th- century looms. Besides continuing the tradition of damask, brocade, lampas, and light silk weaving, the Setificio also creates precious fabrics for decorating and modern complements, on display, like the precious fabrics, in the Setificio's evocative showroom.
The British Institute of Florence
The British Institute of Florence, established in 1917 and granted a Royal Charter in 1923, was the first of the British cultural institutes to operate overseas and served as a model for the establishment of the British Council in 1934.
Its objectives as defined in the 1923 Charter were to promote understanding between the citizens of Italy and the countries of the British Commonwealth through the maintenance in Florence of a library illustrating Italian and British culture and the promotion of the study of the English and Italian language and the cultures of both countries.
Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, Florence
Created in 2006 as one of Italy’s first public/private foundations, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi aims to revitalise the public spaces of the Palazzo Strozzi – one of the foremost examples of Renaissance domestic architecture – with a year-round programme of activities including exhibitions, events, lectures and programmes designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of visitors of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds. The foundation’s motto is non solo mostre (not just exhibitions) and its mission is to provide a rich and varied range of cultural activities in which exhibitions are just one, important, part. Over the coming years the Palazzo Strozzi aims to become a much-loved cultural piazza at the heart of Florence, a meeting place to which both local residents and visitors will want to come back to again and again.
Costume Society of America
The Costume Society of America advances the global understanding of all aspects of dress and appearance. We work to stimulate scholarship and encourage study in the rich and diverse field of costume.
The Costume Society of America was founded on March 23, 1973 and incorporated in the state of New York on September 12, 1973. The Costume Society of America serves it members, and promotes goals with national symposia and publications including the annual journal Dress, its newsletter CSA News, its electronic newsletter CSA E-News, and the Membership Directory.
CSA began forming regional groups in 1978. There are six regional groups in the United States and Canada, and one international group. Individual regions hold annual meetings, sponsor programs and publish newsletters.
The CSA Series, began in 1999, is a partnership between Texas Tech University Press and Costume Society of America. It is a special series dedicated to the history and conservation of dress adornment and to interpreting culture through appearance.
Il Museo del Tessuto, Prato
With a population of 190,000 Prato is the second biggest city in Tuscany, and is surrounded by the most important textile district in Italy. The development of Prato’s textile industry dates from the 12th century, and since then has progressed uninterruptedly throughout the centuries. Today, the district comprises 8000 companies employing 40,000 people, introducing 70,000 new articles on the international market and producing about 350 million metres of fabric for clothing, furnishings and technical uses every year.
Prato’s Textile Museum was opened in 1975 in the Textile Technical Institute “Tullio Buzzi”, as a cultural institution for the recovery of the local productive history and to support training in the sector of textile design. Is today the greatest centre in Italy for the promotion of textile culture.
Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio, Florence
The Foundation was set up in 1971 by Fidalma Lisio, the daughter of Giuseppe Lisio, who, on her father's death was left the most famous manufacture of hand-woven silks in Italy. It now attracts a specialist staff of technicians, weavers, historians and teachers.
The main aim of the Fondazione Lisio is to ensure the survival of the finest hand-weaving techniques, especially of the velvets and brocades of the Italian Renaissance.
The foundation promotes the understanding of historic and modern weaving through specialised courses and publications.
Traditionally inspired and totally modern textiles are designed and created at the Foundation. As the Fondazione Lisio is a non-profit making institution everything is reinvested in the activities of the Foundation.
Polimoda International institute fashion design and marketing
Based in Florence in the beautiful Villa Strozzi, Polimoda is recognised as the leading school of Fashion in Italy. Since it was founded in 1986, about 950 students from all over the world have been attending the school during the academic year. Most of Polimoda graduates find a job in six months after leaving the school, in the most important Fashion companies such as Armani, Benetton, Hugo Boss, Dolce&Gabbana, Max Mara, Trussardi, Valentino, Nike, Prada, Krizia, Kenzo and Gucci, to name but a few.
Polimoda, the International Institute for Fashion Design & Marketing, was created and financed by the Town Council of Florence and Prato and various trade associations in collaboration with the New York State University’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
Situated in Florence, on the second floor of Palazzo Spini Feroni, Via Tornabuoni n. 2, the museum was opened to the public in 1995 by the Ferragamo family, in an effort to illustrate Ferragamo's artistic qualities and the important role he played in the history of shoe design and international fashion. Besides photographs, patents, sketches, books, magazines and wooden lasts of various famous feet, the museum boasts a collection of draws 10,000 models designed by Ferragamo from the end of the 1920's until 1960, the year of his death.
The shoes, displayed on a biennial rotation, are chosen each time according to specific themes that deal with new issues and allow for new fields of inquiry. The shoes, all works of refined craftsmanship, their design and materials, unveil the mind of an artist who was always in touch with the cultural mood of the time. Salvatore often searched for and found ideas, inspiration and collaboration from the leading artists of his day.
Similarly, the museum arranges exhibitions of its own historical collection with the participation of contemporary artists, and promotes and hosts exhibitions and events linked to art and culture.
The Primo Premio Guggenheim Impresa & Cultura (The Guggenheim First Prize for Industry and Culture) for 1999 was awarded to Salvatore Ferragamo for its decision to invest in culture and subsequently employ it as a communication strategy for the company...
Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence
In the 16th century, Florentine craftsmen perfected the art of pietre dure, piecing together cut pieces of precious and semi-precious stones in an inlay process, and the Medici-founded institute devoted to the craft has been in this building since 1796.
Long ago misnamed a "Florentine mosaic" by the tourism industry, this is a highly refined craft in which skilled artisans (artists, really) create scenes and boldly colored intricate designs in everything from cameos and tabletops to never-fade stone "paintings." Masters are adept at selecting, slicing, and polishing stones so that the natural grain or color gradations in the cross sections will, once cut and laid in the design, become the contours, shading, and molding that give good pietre dure scenes their depth and illusion of three-dimensionality.
Fondazione Roberto Capucci, Florence
Established on September 15, 2005 with the Civita Association - which looks after the enhancement of the Italian cultural patrimony for about 20 years. The Foundation is aimed at preserving and promoting the knowledge of the work of Roberto Capucci.
British Consulate of Florence
Welcome to the official website of British Consulate of Florence.
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