Cortona –The Mother of all Antiques Fairs  

Cortona (Arezzo) from 26 August - 10 September

By Mary Jane Cryan   

Fresh on the tail of the extremely successful Tuscan Sun Festival of performing arts that filled the city of Cortona with music throughout the month of August,  the Antiques Fair is perhaps beyond its prime but nonetheless an excellent excuse to visit the town where the mysterious smile – and life style- of the Etruscans  lingers on.    

Corona’s Antiques fair, celebrating its 44^th edition this year, can rightly be considered the mother of annual Italian antiques fairs.

  Begun  in 1963 to act as a launching pad for the town’s flourishing restoration and furniture reproduction business, the show was dedicated to the “mobile antico” or antique furniture but over the years it has expanded to include art works, jewellery and other branches of the antiques world.  

Held at the elegant Palazzo  Vagnotti, the show & market was and still is the show place of Central Italian top antiques dealers. Adding flavour to this year’s edition is a retrospective exhibit in honor of artist Gino Severini held in Palazzo Casali and another show of 1950’s fashion from the Prato Textile museum.

 Looking back at the old catalogues in my library I realize that the annual visit to Cortona was always more than just a chance to admire (and dream about buying) antique furniture and art works. The catalogues were also tomes of knowledge full of helpful information.    

The 1970 catalogue with its 260+ pages of illustrations shows the prize pieces of 48 exhibitors –the crème of central Italy’s “old timers”. From Rome Rosati & Terenzi, Venturi & Spada both with shops on what was then the busy hive of Rome’s top antiquarians - Via Giulia. 

Arezzo’s legendary Ivan Bruschi, after whom the Foundation Ivan Bruschi is named, wrote the preface for the catalogue.

The catalogue of the 10^th Antiques Show, in 1972, weighed in with a hefty 380 pages and was enriched with a selection of articles on Cortona Etrusca by Paolo Bruschetti and the Palazzi of Cortona signed by local priest, Bruno Frescucci as well as a poem of Gabirielle D’Annunzio  “La città di silenzio” in honor of the city of Cortona.

In the 1981 catalogue is prefaced by enlightening articles on the Etruscan smile, the musical chapel of the cathedral of Cortona, and the city laws for the year 1325.  

For the year 22^nd anniversary of the Antiques Fair in 1984 Mario De Filippis, the Guiness world champion with his collection of ex libris,  presented a fascinating account of these little works of art that decorate the frontispiece of so many of our books. 

The 27^th edition of the show in 1989 saw an interesting monograph by Umberto Rossi on Luca Signorelli  and the previously unpublished sketchbook of Giovanni Fattori, “Ricordi di Rome 1884” .

Thumbing through the pages of illustrations depicting elegant chests of drawers, 19^th century mahogany tables, sculptures and paintings prompts the question: how many young couples visit the antiques shows today looking for special pieces to help furnish their first home? Or is the IKEA catalogue now preferred reading? 

A word of advice: do not be surprised when the cheap factory-produced kit furniture falls apart after a few years of use, a couple of kids and house moves. The antique chest or cupboard will remain and increase in value as the years go by and can be considered a far better investment than bonds or money in the bank. 

Antique furniture and works of art are investments that you can admire as you use them to furnish your home.