The workshop · since 1875
Six generations, one craft
Our workshop is a family business, founded in 1875 by Cesare Mannelli and handed down from generation to generation ever since.
The founder
Cesare Mannelli
Florence, 1836 – 1920
Cesare Mannelli was born in Florence in 1836 and lived his whole life in his native city, until his death in 1920.
Few mementoes of him survive, but they are precious: a black-and-white photograph taken on the Ponte Vecchio, and a story by the playwright Sem Benelli in his autobiography, “La mia leggenda” (1939).
Benelli paints him as a quiet man, yet one who could convey affection and wisdom with very few words and a great deal left unsaid.
The memorial stone
Cesare Mannelli
operoso benefico onesto
venerato dalla famiglia
stimato dagli orafi fiorentini
qual valente e diletto collega
si spense per fiero morbo
il 27 ottobre 1920
nella grave età di 84 anni
il suo nome è rimasto
in memoria e benedizione
“Cesare Mannelli — hard-working, charitable, honest — revered by his family, esteemed by the goldsmiths of Florence as a skilled and beloved colleague, was taken by a cruel illness on 27 October 1920, at the grave age of 84. His name lives on in memory and blessing.”
Our addresses
From the Ponte Vecchio to Via delle Terme
From 1875
Ponte Vecchio, 14
For a great many years the shop stood on the Ponte Vecchio, at number 14.
The 1990s
Oltrarno
In the 1990s we had to move, first to the Oltrarno, across the river.
Today
Via delle Terme, 14D
For the past ten years we have been on Via delle Terme, a couple of minutes’ walk from the bridge.
Our mark
C M 14
The original sign from the shop on the bridge shows the number 14 in a gold circle, and it has become something of a logo for us.
That is why our initials and the number 14 appear on the pieces we make.
From generation to generation
The six generations
What we have kept
Cesare’s tools
In Benelli’s description of the shop we still recognise a few objects that we proudly keep to this day.
The loupe
The goldsmith’s eyeglass Cesare kept “always in his left eye”. Mounted on ebony.
The little lathe
The treadle lathe his son Roberto used to smooth baroque pearls.
The chest of drawers
The drawers in which Cesare tried to bring some order to his creative chaos. We are still trying.
One of Florence’s historic businesses
What was the shop on the bridge like in the late nineteenth century? Sem Benelli tells us: as a boy, he spent his lunch breaks there.