Ferragamo Museum

The Ferragamo Museum is a company museum , dedicated to the history of the Ferragamo company, the life of its founder, Salvatore Ferragamo and his creations.

The Ferragamo Museum was founded in May 1995 on the initiative of the Ferragamo family with the desire to make the public all over the world aware of the artistic qualities of Salvatore Ferragamo and the role he played in the history not only of footwear, but also of fashion international. Like most company museums, the Ferragamo Museum and the archive connected to it were born from the vision of the entrepreneur, in our case Wanda Ferragamo, Salvatore's widow and at the helm of the company since 1960, the year of the founder's death, with his six children. In particular, it was Fiamma Ferragamo, the eldest of the brothers, who acted as spokesperson for this project within the family, making use of the technical skills of historians and archivists.

The first idea for the museum originated during the organization of the first exhibition dedicated to the history of Salvatore Ferragamo which was held at Palazzo Strozzi in 1985. Over time the exhibition has become itinerant, hosted by the most important museums in the world, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Sogetsu Kai Foundation in Tokyo, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Over time, the exhibition project has transformed into a permanent initiative with the establishment of the Ferragamo Museum in 1995. Since the mid-nineties, many initiatives and exhibitions have been conceived and organized by the museum with the aim not only to tell the story of a man, but also to express the company's openness and interest towards the most current and significant phenomena of the contemporary world, which from art, design, entertainment, customs, communication, from information, they extend their influence to style and forms of dressing and living .

To confirm the cultural value of the institution, in 1999 Salvatore Ferragamo received the coveted Guggenheim Business and Culture Award, awarded to companies that stand out every year for important investments in the cultural field. Starting from 2006, in order to make the life of the museum as dynamic as that of the company, it was chosen to select a different research theme every year, which, starting from the experience of Salvatore Ferragamo, from the history of his life, from his creations, from his customers and from the values in which he believed, allows us to investigate the Ferragamo world in a transversal way, combining it with other areas such as art, architecture, design, economic and social history and philosophy. Every time the museum looks different. The layout changes and the contents change.