Top: Pitti Square, Florence, 1800s. Left: Ilio De Filippis working on a Pietra Dura Inlay, 1982. Right: The first Pitti Mosaici workshop, 1982-1995.
Heritage
Pitti Mosaici was founded in Pitti Square, Florence, in 1982 and is built on the experience of four generations of fine art craftsmanship.
In 1890, Grandfather Emilio left the charming central Italian town of Venafro (South of Rome), for Paris, to study at the L’Academie des Beaux Arts as a marble sculptor. His brother was a master wood craftsman for the Vatican Sacristy. Another brother was a priest-painter whose work can be admired to this day in the Secret Room of the Vatican Museum.
When grandfather Emilio returned to Italy in 1945, he worked with his son, Ernesto, mostly in churches and other sacred spaces until 1955. Later on, Ernesto worked with his son Emilio (known as “Ilio”) and shifted the genre of work from sacred and artistic to residential architecture until 1970.
After the work experience with his father, Ilio went to Florence to study architecture, in the meanwhile discovering the art of Florentine hard-stone inlay. A few years later, he decided to focus on mastering this rare artform.
Ilio acquired his first mosaic workshop in 1982 in Pitti Square and through the years has continued to grow as one of the major family businesses continuing the art of Pietra Dura in Florence. The workshop, known as a Laboratory, is also now complimented by an interior and architectural design studio which completes projects in classic Italian and Tuscan style for clients throughout the world.
The workshop of pietra dura - in Pitti Square, Florence, acquired by Ilio in 1982.
“When you buy a Pietra Dura mosaic, you buy a piece of history.”
- ILIO DE FILIPPIS, FOUNDER
Today, Ilio guides our artisans in creating great mosaic panels and table tops, always by using the historical Renaissance Techniques originally created by the Medici.
