Issue 229 · Autumn 2026·Issues raised by the 1976 World of Islam Festival in London, fifty years on, A Rabat-based collector explains his fascination with curtains from his home city, A visit to the MAK, Vienna, prompts questions about the role of a great museum
Weaves Revealed: The Bardini Textile Legacy in Florence
A new exhibition at the Museo Stefano Bardini in Florence explores how the art dealer Stefano Bardini and his children, Emma and Ugo, collected, traded and made textiles, from Borghese tapestries to a previously unseen carpet by Paul Follot.
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Ella Haig
Digital editor
·5 min read·02 Nov 2026·
Installation view of 'Officina Bardini: Weaves Revealed'
On 30 October 2026, ‘Officina Bardini: Weaves Revealed’, an exhibition dedicated to the legacy of the Bardini family, opened at the Museo Stefano Bardini in Florence.
Curated by Marco Betti, Marco Mozzo and Rosario Ruggiero Terrone, and running until 31 January 2027, it is the third instalment in a series that began with ‘Officina Bardini’ in 2022 and continued with ‘Officina Bardini: The Art of Wood’ in 2024. The new show is the result of two years of research, study and restoration.
More than fifty silks, oriental carpets, tapestries, historical garments and archival documents from the Bardini Legacy are shown alongside works from Florence’s civic collections and loans from other museums. Together they offer an evocative journey into the world of textile art and fashion, seen through the objects collected, traded and made by Stefano Bardini and his children, Emma and Ugo.
Arranged in five thematic sections across the museum’s ground and first floors, the exhibition explores how the Bardinis treated textiles as symbols of prestige, as commercial goods and as models for new production. Paintings, photographs, letters, inventories, tools and auction catalogues trace the family’s international network of suppliers, restorers, collectors and museums. They also reveal the web of relationships that connected the Bardinis to wealthy American magnates of the Gilded Age, scholars, museum directors and prominent 20th-century figures such as Gabriele d’Annunzio.
Highlights include a group of notable carpets, among them a previously unseen piece signed by Paul Follot; prestigious tapestries from the Borghese collection; reconstructed tapestries and millefleurs chairs; and a recreated ‘Room of Fabrics’ displaying textiles from the 15th to the 18th century. Further sections tell the story of the family’s tapestry workshop and its young female weavers, and present oriental carpets and creations by Mariano Fortuny. Restored historical garments range from a 16th-century linen woman’s shirt and a Baroque bodice to an 18th-century frock coat, while Emma Bardini’s wardrobe includes a pair of Ferragamo sandals with cork wedge heels.
The exhibition is organised by the Municipality of Florence (Superintendency of Civic Museums), the Ministry of Culture (Regional Directorate for National Museums in Tuscany – Museo e Galleria Mozzi Bardini) and Fondazione MUS.E.
