The Ferragamo Museum in Florence inaugurates an exceptional exhibition that traces the life, work and legacy of Salvatore Ferragamo (1898-1960), founder of the iconic Italian house. Through a careful selection of documents, photographs, videos, objects and archival pieces, the exhibition offers an immersion into the mind of a creator whose influence profoundly marked the history of footwear design and the renaissance of ‘Made in Italy’.
Located in the historic Palazzo Spini Feroni, the brand’s headquarters in Piazza Santa Trinita, the exhibition will be open to the public from 27 October 2023 to 27 April 2025. More than a tribute, the exhibition poses a dialogue between past and present, between traditional craftsmanship and innovation, highlighting the cultural and artistic heritage that Ferragamo brought to the world of fashion.
The exhibition is structured in nine thematic sections that narrate, in great detail, Ferragamo’s journey from his birth in Bonito to his untimely death in 1960. Highlights include his time in Hollywood, where he designed shoes for stars such as Joan Crawford and Rudolph Valentino, and his return to Florence in 1927, where he began to fuse traditional craftsmanship with contemporary creativity.
Highlights include his anatomical studies on the mechanics of the foot, patents that revolutionised the industry – such as the cork wedge heel and the cage heel – and his experimentation with materials and colours inspired by artistic movements such as Futurism and Cubism. The exhibition also devotes space to his collaborations with international celebrities and custom designs that reflected the unique tastes of each client.
The last section establishes a symbolic link between the shoes created by the so-called ‘cobbler of dreams’ and the personalities who wore them, showing iconic pieces alongside images of film stars, aristocrats and the international jet set.
The exhibition not only celebrates Ferragamo’s technical and creative mastery, but also reclaims his role as a pioneer of a new era of design that unites functionality, beauty and craftsmanship. This new look at Salvatore Ferragamo’s legacy invites visitors to discover the cultural impact of his work, which remains a reference in the world of contemporary design.
Museo Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni, Piazza Santa Trinita, Florence.
Dates: Until 27 April 2025
