Cantagalli Biography
The Cantagalli factory was a ceramic factory in Florence, active between the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. Manufactory owned by an ancient family of Florentine majolica makers dating back to the end of the 16th century, from 1872 it was managed by Ulisse and Romeo Cantagalli, sons of Giuseppe, who in addition to the traditional production of tableware began, in 1878, a parallel production of ceramics antique style art. The refined technical and artistic execution of the products created launches the manufacture on the national and international market. On 30 March 1902, Ulisse Cantagalli died in Cairo and the factory passed to his wife Margareth Tod and daughter Flavia, who entrusted the artistic direction to Mussini and the technical direction to Giusti. In 1906 the factory took part in the Milan Exhibition, in 1911 in the Decorative Arts exhibition in Turin and in 1925, under the artistic direction of Carlo Guerrini, in that of Paris. It had considerable success, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, when the manufacture established itself as one of the most relevant in the region, halfway between the classicism of Richard Ginori and the modernist-style creations of the Chini Manufacture. Important commissions for the decoration of public buildings, such as the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia in Pistoia or the Post Office building in Florence, and private buildings, such as Villa Stibbert, also date back to that period.
