FLORENTINE GENIUS

Museo Salvatore Ferragamo offers insight into the celebrated shoemaker’s brilliance

- Alaira Tirtha Shetty

Museo Salvatore Ferragamo housed in the iconic Pala-zzo Spini Feroni in Florence, Italy remains one of the most visited and successful fashion museums in the world, independently owned and managed by the House. An ode to Ferragamo, whose original sketches and archival pieces adorn the walls, the site presents intimate photographs of the designer and his family, personal letters of gratitude from his most loyal clients including Princess Diana, and an ever-changing annual exhibit that reflects socially prevalent issues and voices of change playing a pivotal role in design today.

The museum acts as an active companion to the brand’s changing seasons rather than a silent reflection of the past, suggests its director Stefania Ricci, long-term friend of the Ferragamo family and one of the world’s most celebrated fashion historians. “There’s always been an appreciation for art and history, but we also wish to explore the modern issues and needs of women. The museum is the perfect bridge between past and present for the House,” she believes.