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Historical Archive

In 1928 when Vittorio Gui founded the Orchestra Stabile Fiorentina, he probably wouldn’t have imagined that almost a century later, after years of musical seasons and festivals, there would have been such a large historical collection of cultural artefacts that has become fundamental not only for Florence but for the entire world of the figurative and musical arts.

The Archive of the Maggio preserves a collection of incalculable value composed of almost 13,000 pieces including sketches and  figurines designed and realised by some of the most important artists of the twentieth century such as Guttuso, De Chirico, Sironi, Savinio; these and many others characterize the incredible heritage of the theatre that is available for both scholars and theatre enthusiasts, as well as the simply curious. In almost half a kilometre of shelves are stored over 100 thousand documents dating from 1928 to the most contemporary: one thousand posters of which 200 are products of internationally renowned artists, about 300 models, maquette and plastics and the complete series of autographs and concert programs.

The Archive of the Maggio must not be considered as a "closed" place where we enter only to study the past, but as a dynamic exposition and consultation space on two floors that lives in daily cooperation with the theatre. It continues to receive new documents and materials relative to the new productions, as well as donations such as those of the operatic costumes given to the Maggio by Renata Tebaldi and Ebe Stignani which are exhibited on a rotating basis along with another fifty costumes of historical interest.