LEONARDO AND THE BATTILORO

On the occasion of the 500th year since the death of Leonardo da Vinci, for the XXV edition of Artigianato e Palazzo, the Principe Exhibition is titled “Leonardo e il Battiloro”, design and staging by Once Extraordinary Events.

The exhibition is dedicated to the historical journey of the ancient Florentine company Giusto Manetti Battiloro, founded in 1820, which has combined ultra-modern technology and traditional artisanal production as the key to its success in the world. But it has been, in fact, for more than 15 generations that the Manetti family has been producing – in Florence – real gold and real silver leaf, in keeping with its corporate mission: Tradition, Quality, Ethics and Innovation.

Spectacular workmanship
The exhibition itinerary, set inside the Giardino Corsini’s small Limonaia, shows visitors the ancient technique, some of which is still in fashion today, of working with gold leaf, retracing the phases of the production process that starts from an ingot of gold until it reaches a very thin leaf, only a few tenths of a micron thick. A careful and meticulous production, with over twenty quality controls and a fusion at over 1,000 degrees of temperature for a total duration of 10 hours of processing. The result is a finished product that has the necessary characteristics for the most diverse applications in the art of gilding from the restoration of monuments to the decoration of furnishings, ancient or contemporary architecture all over the world.

The reproduction of Leonardo’s machine
On the occasion of the XXV edition of Artigianato e Palazzo, Manetti Battiloro also reproduced in its entirety, with original materials and totally manual workmanship, according to Leonardo’s original drawing found in the Atlantic Codex, the ancient machine known by the term Macchina per Battiloro; a machine designed for one of the most important economic activities of the time, a masterpiece of mechanical engineering, used for the production of embossing sheets, used for gold leaf but also for medals and coins.

The exhibition
The goldsmith’s art, noble, ancient and well documented already in ancient Egypt and Greco-Roman civilizations, reached its greatest importance in Renaissance Florence. Based on the drawings of the Codex Atlanticus, the Manetti family, which for fifteen generations has held high the name of Florence and its artisans throughout the world, wanted to pay homage to the intuition of the Master Leonardo da Vinci by reconstructing his famous machine.

Giusto Manetti produces in Florence the gold leaf used in the most prestigious buildings in the world, from Versailles to the Hermitage Museum; from the Kremlin to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; from the Rockefeller Building to the Prada Foundation.