X edition
14/15/16 May 2004

Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic
Ministry of Productive Activities
Region of Tuscany
Province of Florence
Municipality of Florence

Garden of Palazzo Corsini sul Prato
115, Via della Scala, Florence

Like the previous editions of ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO craft workshops and their commissions, the forthcoming 10th edition of the Exhibition will bring together, in the splendid Garden of Palazzo Corsini sul Prato in Florence, as many as 95 of the most extraordinary and capable Italian and European craftsmen, involving 7,000 attentive and curious visitors over the three days of the exhibition alone.

In addition to the important cultural and popular contribution in itself, the Exhibition will stimulate a moment of in-depth study on the “minor arts”, with the intention of bringing them ever closer to our everyday life, thus breaking away from the traditional canons of other Exhibition-Markets.

The ARTISANATO E PALAZZO (CRAFTSMANSHIP AND PALACE) Exhibition was mainly born from the idea of re-evaluating and reframing the figure of the craftsman and his work in our times, considering it a high expression of quality and technique, linked to the client, but insisting on the idea of a craftsmanship that is ‘modern’ by nature, without forgetting the fundamental element of tradition. There was also a desire to emphasise the strong social relevance of the craftsman of the past whose workshop often thrived around the palace, understood as a ‘showcase’ and a place for experimentation, in continuous exchange with patrons of all persuasions, benefiting from a direct relationship with the population and tradition as the holder of social aesthetics.

Also for this tenth edition, we start from the idea that in the handmade, creation never ends and each work is not equal to another. And speaking of ‘handmade’ (from the Latin ‘manu facere’: to make with the hands), the exhibitors at ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO are once again called upon to demonstrate live the various working techniques in which they excel.
The Palazzo Corsini sul Prato, commissioned to Bernardo Buontalenti at the end of the 16th century, conceals one of the most interesting Italian gardens in Florence, designed and created by Gherardo Silvani, with a wide central avenue adorned with statues of degrading sizes to accentuate the perspective effect, flower beds, box hedges, bases for lemon basins and the spacious and luminous Limonaie (lemon houses) that rise up behind the boundary wall that delimits the garden on Via della Scala, from where they have their entrance.

PROGRAMME:

Friday 14 May
– 10 a.m. opening
– 11 a.m. inauguration of the “Prince Exhibition
– 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. guided tours of the garden by the Cultural Association Città Nascosta
– 6 p.m. round table “Crafts and Palazzo 1994/2004 a successful experience
– 9 p.m. closing time

Saturday 15 May
– 10 a.m. opening
– 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. guided tours of the Garden by the Cultural Association Città Nascosta
– 7.30 p.m. Official Sponsor’s cocktail and lunch at Palazzo Corsini (by invitation)
– 9 p.m. closing time

Sunday 16 May
– 10 a.m. opening
– 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. guided tours of the garden by the Cultural Association Città Nascosta
– 6 p.m. awarding of the ‘Cellini Prize – Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze
to the exhibitor most appreciated by the public
– 9 p.m. closing of the event

With the ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO project, we hope, by bringing together an increasingly large group of master craftsmen from all over Italy, to catalyse the attention of a vast and attentive public on these debated topics, hoping for a lively interest on the part of the parties involved: the craftsmen and their clients.