Torrini (jeweller)

Torrini head quarters (museum and jewelry shop)

Torrini is a Florentine company of goldsmiths located in the Piazza del Duomo. Founded in 1369, it is arguably the oldest jewelry firm in the world.

History

Torrini's trademark was registered in 1369 with the Blacksmiths and Armourers Guild of the Florentine Republic by Jacopus Turini Della Scharperia (or Scarperia). The registration is documented in the State Archives of Florence with a signum, which is a half-clover with a spur, still used to seal the firm's works.

The Torrini Goldsmith Family's tradition of producing jewelry and artwork is passed down from father to son. Some of their works, created by members of the family, are now displayed in museums worldwide. For instance, Giovanni di Turino's (or Turini) Madonna and Child are exhibited at the National Gallery of Art Detroit Institute of Arts in the USA, while the Virgin with Child can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Washington, DC. Another example of a Florentine hard stone inlay, the nineteenth-most recent set of Giocondo Torrini, is housed at the British Museum in London, and another piece exists at the RISD Museum in Providence, US.

The Museum

The museum bears witness to the secular activities of the Torrini Goldsmith Lineage with its seventeenth-century history. Among the museum works there are rare examples of Renaissance silverware, and several eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century brooches made of semiprecious stones. They are periodically organized in traveling exhibitions devoted to monographic issues or particular artists.

See also

• List of oldest companies

External links

• [1] official website