Pitti Palace. Silverworks Museum

The twenty-five rooms of the Silverworks Museum, or Treasure of the Grand Dukes, contain the fruits of centuries of Medici and Lorraine collecting. The collections on display here include the semiprecious stone vases acquired by Piero de' Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico, the rock crystals of Francesco I, the "Salzburg Treasure" amassed by Ferdinando III of Lorraine and the jewelled galanterie presented to Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici. Providing a worthy backdrop to these magnificent collections are the splendid frescoes adorning many of the halls of Pitti Palace's left wing in which the museum is housed.

Marilena Mosco, well-known scholar of Baroque art, is the director of the Silverworks Museum.

The volumes published in the Firenze Musei series are the official guides for the Florence museums: a completely new aide guaranteed to help the visitor. They have been conceived in cooperation between the publisher, the Fine Arts and Historic Works Service and the directors of the museums. Each guide provides a rich resource of colour illustrations and a host of useful details compiled by the best specialists in each sector. The Firenze Musei Guides, therefore, contain the most up-to-date and reliable information one could wish for when visiting the city's art collections.