Cabinet of Natural History Collections

Wall Panels – Egisto Tortori

The productions related to the various branches of manufacturing and industry (metallurgy, mechanics, construction, ceramic, textile and glass sectors), are represented by multiple series of products for the processing of materials: silk, cotton, wool, leathers, minerals. These findings highlight the various phases of use of the elements and the processing techniques, and provide information on the factories of origin, on the trade and on the economic processes related to the commodity materials.

The result is a representative picture of the production reality, especially in Italy, and of the main factories and workshops, at the level of both small local businesses and industrial realities of the nineteenth century.

The Institute exploited the role it had in the organization of the Tuscan exhibitions of the mid-nineteenth century, to acquire material exhibited by individual exhibitors, as evidenced by the collections of the ceramic industry.

These objects come, for example, from the Deruta factory, from the Doccia factory, from the Florentine one of Ulisse Cantagalli, from the Montelupo workshop, from the Pisan factory of Emilio Bertini, from the Sienese one of Pepi and Basetti, from the Palermo one of Filippo Martines, from the Colle Val d’Elsa glassworks.

The official catalogs of the Exhibitions contain descriptive references of many of these objects, which underline their quality and peculiarities.

The pottery of Cassano d’Adda, for example, are famous for their resistance and colors and today they are considered among the only testimonies of the Legnani factory, which contributed significantly to the economic and social development of Cassano, from 1821, up to 1910, the year of its closure.

The Institute therefore directed its acquisitions towards products of excellence, both for technical innovation and for the quality of the product.

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