Italy is a Republic founded on history, art and beauty. We are a nation full of wonders, art, music, beauty, and… museums.
We are so fortunate that our country, our history and our culture are celebrated in every corner of the peninsula with museums and exhibitions that bear witness to our entire past and all our abilities.
Goldsmith art in Italy is an excellence. We boast the first museum in Europe (one of the few in the world) of jewelry. The Museo del Gioiello, a permanent museum space inside the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, is a tribute to one of the cities, together with Arezzo, that has a tradition of world-class excellence in goldsmith art. But it is not the only one:
Source: https://www.unoaerre.it/it/museo-arte-orafa
Unoaerre Museum - Arezzo
On March 7, 1988, the prestigious leading goldsmith company Unoaerre inaugurated its first goldsmith art themed museum, with the aim of not losing historical memory and leading the visitor on an exhibition path that starts from industrial archaeology up to all the splendid creations of Giò Pomodoro.
An overview that starts from the early 1900s to the present day, passing through the Belle Epoque, the geometric style of Art Déco, up to contemporary collections, handing down an art and a culture projected towards the future of goldsmith art.
Museo degli Argenti, Florence: display case with sacred objects. Photo by I, Sailko ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )
Silver Museum - Florence
Did you know that in Palazzo Pitti there is a museum dedicated to the precious objects that belonged to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany? Yes, in the beautiful seventeenth-century setting adorned with frescoes in the summer apartment of Grand Duke Ferdinand II de' Medici, we find the treasure of the prince-bishops of Salzburg and Wurzburg, the jewels that belonged to Anna Maria Luisa de Medici and the pietra dura vases of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In addition to these, there is also a collection of gems and ivories.
Source : https://www.bulgari.com/en-int/the-heritage-domvs.html
House Bulgari - Rome
In the renowned historic Bulgari boutique, on Via Condotti in Rome, there is a small vintage collection of jewels that belonged to the most famous stars loyal to the Bulgari fashion house.
Here we find on display a sautoir from the 70s that mounts coins dating back to the Roman Empire, a more recent necklace, from the 90s, with the plan of Castel Sant'Angelo covered in amethysts, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, a gold and diamond necklace that recalls the shape of the Pantheon, and a Sassi bracelet of rubies, amethysts and aquamarines.
Source: https://www.museodelgioiello.it/
Jewellery Museum - Vicenza
As we were saying, the first museum in Italy and one of the few in the world, dedicated exclusively to jewelry. 410 square meters inside the Basilica Palladina curated by the Professor of Jewelry Design at the Polytechnic of Milan, Alba Cappellieri. The Museum is accompanied by an educational-scientific path divided into two levels that tells everything you can imagine about the goldsmith's art and jewelry.
But Italy is not the only country that collects in permanent exhibitions focused solely on jewelry.
Fabergé Museum in Baden Baden - Germany
Do you know the Fabergé egg? The Fabergé Egg was a jewelry creation created at the court of the Tsar of All the Russias by Peter Carl Fabergé. The museum contains 700 creations dating back to the time of the Tsars, including the renowned Ivanov collection named after Alexander Ivanov, one of the world's greatest art collectors.
Diamond Museum Amsterdam
Here you can discover the world's most famous diamond craftsmanship. The museum houses 3 billion years of natural history and the connection between them and the royal family. You can discover more than 22 reproductions of famous diamonds and beautiful pieces of jewelry dating back to the Royal House of Oranje-Nassau.
Royal Jewels Museum - Alexandria, Egypt
If you think of a pharaoh, what do you remember first? The pyramids, the Kajal and… precious stones. From the time of the pharaohs until today, Egypt has been a mine, in the true sense of the word, of precious stones, gold and art. The palace that houses the museum was built in 1919, but was made accessible to the public only in 1986. In the various rooms of this fascinating museum you can admire extremely rare pieces of inestimable value: jewels of Queen Nazli, Princess Fawza, objects that belonged to Ali Pasha and an astonishing chessboard with pawns and knights in gold and diamonds.