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Gold and jewellery making made its way into the Florentine tradition relatively late in comparison with the other artisan traditions, but had a long-lasting effect on Florence. While goldsmiths were doing all right making garlands of gold wire and pearls for women's headdresses, it was Lorenzo the Magnificent, himself a fond collector of gold jewellery, particularly cammeos, who greatly influenced and created plentiful work for goldsmiths in the 1400s. The goldsmiths' studios originally took up much of Via Por Santa Maria before moving on to the Ponte Vecchio, and the quality of their work was strictly controlled by the guilds with rules such as artisans had to work in public view.
A lot of what Lorenzo collected is still in town. His cameos and carved hardstone vases ended up in Palazzo Pitti, in the rooms now called the Tesoro dei Granduchi. On many of them he had his own name cut into the stone: LAV.R.MED. Not the most modest way to mark your property! But it shows how much these small objects mattered to him, and to the goldsmiths who set them in gold.
From the goldsmith's bench to the Duomo
A goldsmith was the “jack of all trades” of his time, and they were not limited to just jewellery making, but also often made objects, sculptures, boxes, buttons and book covers. Sculptors, artists and architects often had their initial training in goldsmith studios – Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Botticelli and Verocchio (Leonardo da Vinci's master) are just a handful of the many who began as goldsmiths before creating the Renaissance's greatest buildings and most memorable sculptures and paintings.
Ghiberti is the easiest one to check for yourself. He spent the best part of fifty years on his two sets of bronze doors for the Baptistery. Look closely at the frames. You'll find the same tiny heads, leaves and insects you'd expect on a brooch, just a lot bigger. Michelangelo supposedly called the second set the Gates of Paradise, and the name stuck.
Why did the goldsmiths end up on the Ponte Vecchio?
In the next century, Benvenuto Cellini made goldsmithing an infamous profession, writing about the secrets of his profession in his controversial biography. Shortly after, in 1593 the Medici duke, Ferdinando I, decided to bring the goldsmiths and jewellers to the Ponte Vecchio (replacing the putrid butcher shops which has traditionally been there) and they have remained ever since. Throughout this period, gold ornaments and accessories were just as popular as they are today: buckles, brooches, hair pins, garlands, medals, cammeoes, were all common accessories.
The smell had a lot to do with it. In 1565 Vasari built the corridor that runs along the top of the shops. It let Cosimo I walk from Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti without going down into the street. The Medici crossing the river over a row of butchers throwing scraps into the Arno was not quite the picture the family wanted. Goldsmiths were cleaner, and they could pay higher rents.
Look at the shops from the riverbank. You'll see the little back rooms hanging out over the water on wooden brackets. Shopkeepers added them bit by bit over the centuries, whenever they needed more space. Before the shops open in the morning, and again late at night, you see the old wooden shutters, the madielle. The whole bridge then looks like a row of locked chests. It's a completely different place from the afternoon crush, and honestly one of the nicest times to see it. If you're staying nearby, walk over once before breakfast.
Halfway accross there's a bust of Benvenuto Cellini. The goldsmiths put it up in 1901, for the 400th anniversary of his birth. Most people walk straight past him, busy with the windows.
Gold jewellery in Florence today
Today, Italy is one of the top producers of fine gold jewellery in the world, with the majority of gold production concentrated in central and northern Italy. In Tuscany, the town of Arezzo is one of the world's most important centres of gold jewellery production, a tradition that dates back to the city's ancient Etruscan origins. Florence's goldsmithing tradition is still active, many of the shops themselves still producing in house their own designs. Just as goldsmiths in the Renaissance worked with an incredible dexterity and attention to detail, goldsmiths today take pride in their traditions, many of them still using traditional techniques and designs.
If you're buying and not just looking, most gold jewellery in Florence is 18 carat, stamped 750. The thing to look for, though, is the Florentine finish. Goldsmiths cut a fine texture into the gold by hand with a graver, the bulino. The surface then sparkles in tiny lines instead of shining like a mirror. They've been doing it here since the Renaissance. You'll see it on rings and bracelets, and on those old-fashioned engraved cufflinks that every Florentine grandfather seems to own.
The bridge isn't cheap. And not every shop makes what's in its window, so it's perfectly normal to ask.
Across the river in the Oltrarno
Via Por Santa Maria, where it all started, is the street you walk from the Mercato Nuovo to the bridge. Today it's mostly shoes, bags and souvenirs. Nothing tells you the goldsmiths were ever there. Most of the workshops making gold jewellery in Florence by hand have moved across the river, to streets like Via dei Renai and Via San Niccolò. They're quieter and a bit scruffy in places. If you want to see someone working at a bench, they're far more interesting than the bridge. San Niccolò in particular feels like a small village under the hill. In the evening the locals sit outside its couple of bars with a glass of wine.
Gold is only one of the crafts still alive in the city. Leather has an even longer story, going back to the tanners who once worked along the Arno. We've written about it in our piece on leather in Florence. Then there are the bookbinders, framers and restorers of the Oltrarno. You can meet some of them on a private Florence tour with artisan workshops.
To see more, visit the Casa degli Orafi, a community of historic goldsmiths studios near the Ponte Vecchio, or see artisans at work such as the goldsmith family of Oro Due, Marco Baroni and the eccentric Alessandro Dari. The Ponte Vecchio is still a must for a gawk at the glittery and expensive gold shops, and of course, the picturesque and historic location.
Oro Due: Via Lambertesca, 12
Marco Baroni: Via dei Renai, 3
Alessandro Dari: Via San Niccolo, 115r
The Ponte Vecchio on foot, with a guide
The Ponte Vecchio is one of the stops on our Private Essential Florence Walking Tour. It starts in Piazza della Repubblica, a few minutes from Via Por Santa Maria and the first goldsmiths' studios. After Via Tornabuoni you cross the Santa Trinita bridge, which has the best view of the Ponte Vecchio. Then comes the old bridge itself. Your guide will point out the Vasari corridor above the shops. You'll get the story of the butchers, the Medici and Cellini properly, with all the gossip. On the other side it's into the Oltrarno, past Via Maggio and the artisan workshops tucked in the backstreets. It's still the best place in Florence to see people making things by hand. And yes, there's a gelato along the way.
