Museum of Opificio delle Pietre Dure

In the 16th century, Florentine craftsmen perfected the art of pietre dure, piecing together cut pieces of precious and semi-precious stones in an inlay process, and the Medici-founded institute devoted to the craft has been in this building since 1796. Long ago misnamed a "Florentine mosaic" by the tourism industry, this is a highly refined craft in which skilled artisans (artists, really) create scenes and boldly colored intricate designs in everything from cameos and tabletops to never-fade stone "paintings." The collection in this museum is small, but the pieces are uniformly excellent. Souvenir shops all over town sell modern pietre dure items -- much of it mass-produced junk, but some very nice. The best contemporary maestro is Ilio de Filippis, whose workshop is called Pitti Mosaici.

Museum of Opificio delle Pietre Dure is located in Alfani Street, 78 - 50121 Florence (Florence). To communicate or ask something with the place, the Phone number is +39 055 26511. You can get more information from their website: http://www.opificiodellepietredure.it/index.php?it/73/museo. The coordinates that you can use in navigation applications to get to find "Museum of Opificio delle Pietre Dure" quickly are 43.775913238525,11.259561538696