October 27, 2023

Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

Salvatore Ferragamo 1898 -1960. A retrospective that celebrates the life and vision of the Maison's founder

The Ferragamo Museum inside Palazzo Spini Ferroni, one of the most beautiful architectures via de' Tornabuoni in Florence. Erected by the very powerful Spini family in the Middle Ages, owned by the Marchesi Feroni since the 18th century, it was home to the prestigious Albergo Europa first, temporary headquarters of the City of Florence and then the Gabinetto Viesseux. A restoration in 1874 preserved its appearance as a solid defensive fort. In 1938, the Palazzo was purchased by Salvatore Ferragamo as the headquarters and main boutique for his shoe designer business.

The idea for the museum, born at the behest of the Ferragamo family and their eldest daughter Fiamma, originated during the organization of the first exhibition dedicated to the history of Salvatore Ferragamo, which was held at Palazzo Strozzi in 1985.

The exhibition became over time a traveling one, hosted by the world's most important museums, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Sogetsu Kai Foundation in Tokyo, and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Over time, the exhibition project was transformed into a permanent initiative with the establishment of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in 1995.

At the prestigious headquarters of the Maison and Museum on Via de' Tornabuoni, Ferragamo is currently inaugurating the Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 retrospective, charting a new journey that traces the founder's life to celebrate his pioneering spirit, his relationships and iconic creations, and his extraordinary visions of invention and innovation.

An exhibition that was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first boutique in Hollywood in 1923,and that recalls the most important moments and events in the history of the man and the craftsman, the entrepreneur and the visionary, a unique figure who still guides and inspires the Maison in its expressions of elegance and excellence.

Since the mid-1990s, many initiatives and exhibitions have been conceived and organized by the museum with the intent not only to tell the story of a man, but also to express the company's openness and interest in the most current and significant phenomena of the contemporary world, which from art, design, entertainment, costume, communication, and information, extend their influence to the style and forms of dressing and living. Recall among others Sustainable Thinking of 2020, Silk of 2021, Donne in equilibrio of 2022.

This new backward survey, visited until next November 2024, represents not only a synthesis of Salvatore Ferragamo's ideas and works, but also an opportunity to reflect on the Museum's role as a complex cultural system engaged in constant dialogue between past and present, heritage and contemporaneity.

In the different sections, the exhibition not only deals with the founder's private and entrepreneurial life - in Bonito, in the United States and then in Florence - but also brings together and connects multiple dimensions of research, exploration and inspiration that are layered and interwoven in the deepening of Salvatore Ferragamo's boundless thinking and views: the anatomical studies, the expertise of workmanship and decoration, the chromatic experimentation, the daring research carried out on shapes and materials, and the different artistic and cultural inspirations.
Salvatore Ferragamo: The Shoemaker of Dreams is also a new podcast series created on the occasion of the new exhibition. The audio series consists of eight episodes of about twenty minutes that will be available from October 26 on the main audio platforms and accessible through a QR code inside the exhibition.