Opificio delle Pietre Dure

The Opificio delle Pietre Dure was estabilished in 1588 by the Grand Duke Ferdinando I de'Medici as a court workshop specialised in the manufacturing of semi-precious mosaics and inlays. The laboratory was originally housed in the Uffizi and was moved to its current location in 1798. Owing to the highly specialized staff, at the end of the 19th century the Opificio began to turn its artistic activity towards conservation practice: at first they addressed artefacts produced throughout its centuries-old history, then they broadened their work to analogous materials (stonework, mosaics, etc.). Following the 1975 law establishing the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, all of the state restoration laboratories in Firenze converged in the historic Opificio, which had taken on new importance after the 1966 catastrophic flood. The Opificio delle Pietre Dure (also known as the OPD in its abbreviated form) is an autonomous Institute of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, whose operational, research and training activities find expression in the field of conservation of works of art. The OPD currently publishes an annual review (“OPD Restauro”). It is, furthermore, the seat of one of the Italian state conservation schools (the other is annexed to the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro di Roma), of a museum displaying samples of its artistic semiprecious stone production, a scientific laboratory for diagnostics and research, a highly specialised library in the sphere of conservation, extremely rich archives documenting conservation projects, a research centre and a preventive conservation service. It is one of the largest institutions in Europe in this field, having at its disposal an interdisciplinary team of conservators, art historians, archaeologists, architects, scientific experts and documentalists. The Institute’s activities are carried out in different conservation and research departments, depending on the materials of the art works concerned. The laboratory is divided into three main sectors: the historic headquarters in via Alfani (furthermore, seat of the museum, library and school), the modern venue in Fortezza da Basso and the one in Palazzo Vecchio. A large proportion of the Institute’s work also takes place outside of its laboratories, not only on worksites but also in the sphere of consultation and technical-scientific planning, both on a national scale, throughout Italy, and on the international level.