Florence is alive with history, and the Istituto de’ Bardi is no exception. For almost two centuries, the institution housed in Palazzo Capponi (via de’ Michelozzi 2) has promoted artistic craftsmanship. Now, this connection between the past and present is being told through the exhibition Botteghe Fiorentine featuring photography by Guido Cozzi. Open from January 25 to May 31, the show takes visitors on a photographic journey inside some of the city’s artisan workshops: restorers, decorators, bronze workers, blacksmiths, carpenters, gilders, jewelers, bookbinders and many others.

Florentine Guido Cozzi specializes in geographic, tourist and ethnographic reportage. For the Institute, he presents 20 images of artisan workshops in a documentary style. The spaces are framed frontally, devoid of human presence, to focus on the material dimension of the objects. His photographs tell of a “suspended time”, offering visitors a moment to reflect not only on the current conditions of artisans in a society increasingly driven by mass consumption, but also on the profound change that the disappearance of these workshops would bring to Florence. The exhibition also includes 19th- and 20th-century woodworking objects made by the artisans who once used them from the private collection of restorer Giuseppe Margheri.
A complementary exhibition will be set up at the Tethys Gallery (via de’ Vellutini 17R), just a short walk from the Institute. Founded by Guido Cozzi in 2004, along with Stefano Amantini and Massimo Borchi, the gallery will feature images of historic workshops that are no longer in operation. This parallel exhibition, with a more intimate and nostalgic character, expands on the reflection proposed by the main exhibition, offering an additional perspective on a past that risks being forgotten.
The exhibition reflects the ideals of the institute’s founder, Girolamo de’ Bardi, a man of culture and vision who believed that knowledge should be useful above anything else. In the early 19th century, the heir to the noble family established the goal for his foundation to promote local craftsmanship and offer less affluent artisans the opportunity for free training. Even today, the institute strives to make his message relevant through a renewed approach: short courses in craftsmanship and artistic workshops, which are not professional training programs but are led by artists and artisans who are recognized as local and regional excellence, or by practitioners who, despite possessing valuable skills that are fading, struggle to promote themselves and their products due to the difficulties of the sector.
The exhibition also marks the reopening of the institute’s renovated spaces, available upon request for projects aligned with its mission, further strengthening the dialogue with the city and inviting an ever-growing audience to discover the many initiatives supporting these ancient traditions.
The Botteghe Fiorentine exhibition is open to the public free of charge during all institute activities or by appointment, by writing to segreteria@istitutodebardi.org.
Botteghe Fiorentine
Istituto de’ Bardi
Palazzo Capponi, via de’ Michelozzi 2, Firenze