A new exhibition at the Vicenza Jewelry Museum, combining goldsmith virtuosity and art.
A new exhibition at the Vicenza Jewelry Museum, housed in the Basilica Palladiana. The title of the exhibition is Jewelry – Italy. Technical Matter, Art. Between Ancient and Modern: open until the end of 2027. It was conceived and curated by Paola Venturelli.
The exhibition highlights the exceptional nature of Italian jewelry in a continuous narrative unfolding across the Museum’s six rooms in 11 stages. A journey through 2,000 years of history, from the 5th century B.C. The collection spans over 150 works, including individual jewels and sets, as well as everyday objects such as handbags, cosmetic bags, precious containers, three paintings, and two Apulian ceramics from 330-310 BC. The jewelry is crafted from gold, coral, semiprecious stones, glass, micromosaic, gems, and even unconventional materials, such as the extremely difficult Etruscan granulation used in a late 20th-century set. The Palladian Basilica, which houses the museum in Vicenza
Pompeian wall paintings inspire the coral masters; a colossal marble bust of Jupiter Serapis from the Vatican Museums, dating from the 2nd-3rd centuries AD, stands next to a lava stone brooch, while the plan of the famous Palladian villa La Rotonda, just outside Vicenza, is honored in a pendant. Shell cameos are inspired by famous carvings by Antonio Pichler and Antonio Berini, as well as a bloodstone cameo attributed to Valerio Belli, a renowned goldsmith and master of glyptic art, a key figure in Renaissance Vicenza. Jewelry Exhibition – Italy. Technical Matter, Art. Between Ancient and Modern
The exhibition also includes two special sections. The first is dedicated to Vicenza, with three extraordinarily valuable pieces: a ring and a small cross from the Lombard period, a previously unseen and extremely precious gold votive crown with gems and cameos, and a jeweled collar with a pendant donated in 1604 by the noble Caldogno family of Vicenza. The second special section explores the intersections between contemporary art and jewelry, from Futurism to Kinetic Art, featuring artists from the School of Padua and the Marche region. A small section features mother molds and some models for bracelets, chains, and pendants from the Angelo Tovo company in Creazzo, which closed in 2005 after approximately fifty years of business. This company manufactured molds and dies for local goldsmiths.
The 2025-2027 biennial exhibition is the result of an extraordinary collaboration with museums and foundations throughout Italy, particularly with the museums of Vicenza, establishing a profound dialogue with the city and its surrounding region. The exhibition, divided into eleven chronological and thematic sections, aims to showcase the excellence of Italian jewelry. Approximately 150 works, from ancient history to contemporary creations, highlight the materials, techniques, and artisanal know-how that are a fundamental element of our material culture. We want to communicate that jewelry is much more than an ornament: it is memory, narration, and a bridge between past, present, and future.
Paola Venturelli, Curator of the Jewelry Museum Exhibition Opening
The Jewelry Museum was founded with the aim of promoting the excellent goldsmith tradition of the Vicenza manufacturing district, and with it one of the highest expressions of Made in Italy, combining tradition and innovation, memory and contemporaneity. Through the works and techniques in the new exhibition, thanks to the collaborations with prestigious cultural institutions, museums, and foundations initiated with foresight by Paola Venturelli, we are able to represent the cultural and symbolic richness of jewelry. We want it to be a museum accessible to all, open to dialogue with the local community and with designers, artisans, companies, scholars, and enthusiasts of all ages, capable of engaging with visitors through its rich offering of workshops, activities for schools, and themed meetings.
Michela Amenduni, Management Director of the Jewelry Museum
Admission: €10. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM.
Eintritt: 10 €. Öffnungszeiten: Dienstag bis Freitag, 9:00–13:00 Uhr und 15:00–18:00 Uhr; Samstag und Sonntag, 9:00–18:00 Uhr. Coral Art
