I attended the Mostra Internazionale dell’Artigianato at the amazing Fortezza da Basso. It was worth going just to see this wonderful collection of buildings in Florence. The ancient fort has been put to good use as an exhibition centre.
At the entrance there were some delightful old photos of previous exhibitions in the centre. The Mostra has been going since 1931.
There were hand made products from all over the world, but we concentrated on the Italian things. Ceramics were well represented.
There was furniture.
Some lovely doors.
A kitchen I would love.
There were cute animals in ceramic and wood.
Some pretty umbrellas.
And lots of things that didn’t look hand made at all, but I am not going to show you those.
Our favourite find was a delightful man from Sardinia who makes knives. He happily showed us his beautiful knives…and we had to buy one.
The handles were all carved by hand from horn and the blades lovingly shaped by Efisio.(efisio59@yahoo.it)
The exhibition is on until 28th April. If you are in Florence have a look. There are other things on show in different areas of the exhibition centre and of course, there is lots of places to get good things to eat.
