The history of Salimbeni: silverware in a workmanlike manner for 130 years

The history of SALIMBENI s.n.c. by Franco and Giorgio Salimbeni of Florence originated in the year 1891.

The company was founded by a German: Ernesto Otto Abele from Pforzheim also known as “Goldstadt” (“Golden City”).

Pforzheim was a German city that was highly avant-garde for precious metal works and Ernesto Otto Abele had the idea of ​​combining the German technique with the Florentine taste.

Florence with its Renaissance traditions, its works that the whole world had known.

Mr. Abele and his Florentine partners Corrado Lotti and Dino Naldi soon established themselves for their highly qualified craftsmanship, characterized by a production that included a vast assortment of gift items with careful refinement in the materials combined with the precious metal: Bohemian glassware and Belgian, jade, ivory, precious woods, precious stones, mosaics and enamels, to make toiletries, objects for babies, watches, ornaments, frames, boxes and “objets d’art” in general.

Salimbeni’s story soon encountered major problems. The First World War forced Abele to return to Germany, leaving the company to his partners, Lotti, Naldi &C.

In 1936 Lotti retired and Dino Naldi, who remained the only owner, found himself facing the problems brought by the Second World War.

The company headquarters in Via Foscolo, the villa sold by Abele, was destined to become the headquarters of the French and African military police.

Fortunately, the intervention of an American captain convinced the other allies that trade was necessary for the resumption of national economic development and the villa was evacuated.

Salimbeni’s story continues in the difficult post-war period when Naldi finds valid help in his son-in-law Renato Salimbeni.

Renato Salimbeni, our Father, prepared the company for that leap in quality which later allowed his grandchildren to enter the international market.

Naldi died in 1963 and Renato moved the company headquarters to the family villa in Via Senese.

Later his sons, Franco and Giorgio, supported their father in all phases of the company’s production and management. In 1973 Renato decided to retire and the company continued its activity under their direction, still in Florence but in the new premises in Via dell’Olivuzzo, its current headquarters.

The company SALIMBENI s.n.c. today enjoys a century-old reputation of solidity and seriousness, and continues its artisanal work, constant in preserving the ancient traditions of workmanship: guilloche, hand engravings, fire enamels, miniatures on ivory, interpreted in ever new ways with the aim of best satisfy long-standing customers and simultaneously develop new markets around the world. Currently the production is distributed not only in Italy but also in the USA, Japan, the Middle East, throughout Western Europe and in the countries of the former Soviet Union, counting among its customers the names of the most prestigious jewelers in the world.