Like the previous editions of ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO artisan workshops and their commissions, the forthcoming 11th edition of the Exhibition will bring together, in the splendid Garden of Palazzo Corsini sul Prato in Florence, over one hundred of the most extraordinary and capable Florentine, Italian and European artisans, involving over 7,000 attentive and curious visitors during 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 ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO 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 classes, benefiting from a direct relationship with the population and tradition as the holder of social aesthetics.
Also for this 11th 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 13th May 2005
– 10 a.m. opening
– 11 a.m. inauguration of the “Prince Exhibition” for the 250th anniversary of Vacheron Constantin
– 12 noon inauguration of the Exhibition “Insects between science, collecting and craftsmanship” under the patronage of the La Specola Zoological Museum of the University of Florence.
– guided tours of the Garden are scheduled during the day by the Cultural Association Città Nascosta
– 8.30 p.m. evening closure

Saturday 14 May
– 10 a.m. opening
– 12.00 noon presentation of the project “Adopt a book! Rare editions and manuscripts from Florentine libraries” with the patronage of the Municipality of Florence.
– during the day guided tours of the Garden are scheduled by the Cultural Association Città Nascosta
– 8.30 p.m. evening closure

Sunday 15 May
– 10 a.m. opening
– during the day there will be guided tours of the Garden organised by the Cultural Association Città Nascosta
– 6 p.m. awarding of the “Premio Cellini – Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze” prize
to the exhibitor most appreciated by the public
– 8.30 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.
Corsini Garden Association