I recently went on a one week trip to Florence, Italy - the heart of the renaissance, a city filled with gorgeous sculptures and art at every turn and corner.
As a bookbinding enthusiast, I of course carved out some time to find some "true bookbinding" workshops in Florence. After all, this was the birthplace of the renaissance! This is where you can imagine scenes of people in the past, carrying gorgeous leather bound books, small and large, beautifully decorated in all kinds of ways.
Florence Duomo
The results of my "excursions" so to say, were mixed 🙂 Definitely much better than what you might find in other countries such as the US perhaps. And I did find some bottegas (aka studio or shop) that were specializing in bookbinding and handmade books. But they were still few and far between. In fact, when I asked the owner of a high end leather good store where I might find bookbinders in Florence, his response was - "No, that does not happen anymore!". That's a sample size of one but you get the drift.
Even so, I did find some shops. Some of these were making hybrid books of sorts - part handmade, part machine made, to get to scale. But I did find at least two that were making fully handmade books - so pretty!
So here's a list of workshops and studios for you to check out, the next time you pay a visit to Florence:
Signum: This is a chain of stores that sells various vintage inspired, paper products. From quill pens to leather bound journals, this store is a must visit.
Signum
Il Torchio: Located across Ponte Vecchio in the older part of Florence, this is again a "true" bindery. Run by a Canadian who moved to Florence many years ago to apprentice with the original owner, this shop carries lots of beautiful hand sewn journals.
Leather stalls: Florence is choc a bloc full of leather stalls and small leather product shops everywhere. Some of them carry journals too. Now - these are not hand sewn books by any means. However, there is still an element of handmade to them as the covers are typically added by hand on top of the text block....so there's that.
Arte de Ciompi: This shop is run by a couple - the husband is the bookbinder and the wife manages the shop. I found the journals here to be quite different and unique and super cute. Worth checking out!
Arte de Ciompi
Fabriano Boutique: A lovely stationery shop with a more modern take on their products.
Fabriano Boutique
Il Papiro: This shop specializes in handmade paper products.
Il Papiro
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