Florence, the Costume Gallery of the Pitti Palace

 The Costume Gallery of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence

Florence is world-renowned as a treasure chest of Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture. Nevertheless, the museum offer of the city is not limited to masterpieces by Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, or Leonardo, just to name a few. The Tuscan capital has been for centuries a reference point also for furniture design, porcelain, jewelry, and fashion.

Along with a celebrated fine art museum, Palazzo Pitti is perhaps the major center in Florence dedicated to decorative arts, craftsmanship, and costume.

The Galleria del Costume (Costume Gallery) of Palazzo Pitti, founded in 1983, is the only National Museum in Italy exclusively dedicated to the history of fashion.

The museum depicts the evolution of costume across the centuries, beginning from a unique collection composed of clothes once belonging to members of the Medici family who ruled Florence during the Renaissance, including the remains of Cosimo I de Medici’s clothes, dating back to the 16th century.

Inside the richly-decorated galleries of the museum, through an extensive set of dresses and accessories, combined with contextual images and description panels, the visitors browse the story of costume from the Renaissance to the present day.

Haute-couture pieces, Italian cinema and music divas’ costumes, wedding dresses, and accessories are exposed in a thematic order. The semi-permanent exhibition features pieces from the museum collection, including creations by Lucile, Versace, Azzaro, Renato Balestra, Roberto Cavalli, Ken Scott, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Gucci, and Prada.

Photos by Riccardo Bianchini