This exhibition, curated by Rosanna Caterina Proto Pisani, Maria Grazia Vaccari and Patrizia Cappellini, presents a number of beautiful photographs from the Elis Volpi collection (Davanzati archive and Photo Archive of the Kunsthistorisches). These illustrate the decor of various rooms in the Museum of the Ancient Florentine House, inaugurated in 1910 by the antiquarian Volpi upon completion of the general restoration of the building he had purchased in 1904.

The atmosphere of the ancient mediaeval mansion of the Davizzi was recreated by filling the rooms of the ancient palazzo with furnishings, carpets, tapestries, sculptures, paintings and chests.
Only a handful of these objects are still in the palazzo, since most were sold at the famous auction organised by Volpi himself in New York in 1916, exporting the “Davanzati” taste to America.

The exhibition is part of the itinerary “The treasure rooms. The Wonders of the Collectors in the Florentine Museums” under the aegis of the Little Big Museums project, and is intended to revoke that particular period of time that was so important for the history of taste.