The Bernardo Antichità jewellery store has its origins at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Angelo Melli decided to open a prestigious antique shop in Via Tornabuoni, on the corner with Via del Parione with the name of Melli Antiquites. From the very beginning, Angelo decided to create an eclectic collection, consisting of both antique jewellery and silverware, as well as prestigious paintings, furniture and objects de vertu from different eras.

The activity continued in the following decades thanks to the will of Adolfo and Carlo Melli, Angelo's sons, who moved the boutique to Via Guicciardini, between Ponte Vecchio and Piazza Pitti, managing to further develop the value of the collection, which consisted of increasingly precious and desirable pieces, so much so that Melli jewellery became a point of reference for the Royal House of Savoy, that is, the monarchs of the Kingdom of Italy, of which testimonies are still preserved today.

Around the 30s of the twentieth century, therefore, the two brothers acquired the shop on Ponte Vecchio at 44r where the family business still continues today, after the boutique was carried on by Gustavo, Adolfo's son, who continued the eclecticism of the collection, but paying more and more attention to antique jewellery. To date, the boutique, which takes the name of Bernardo Antichità, continues its activity at the historic shop on Ponte Vecchio where Gustavo's granddaughter, Caterina Pasquinucci, together with her husband Fabio Bernardo and their sons Duccio and Costanza, has been able to specialize definitively in the field of antique jewellery, keeping her personality and taste alive and, at the same time, managing to establish itself nationally and internationally as one of the most peculiar and important collections.

Our goal is to identify and collect unique and unconventional jewels, from private collections throughout Europe and from international auctions. Thanks to the centuries-old history of the family business, we have been able to pass on from generation to generation an in-depth knowledge of antique jewellery, which has allowed us to build and expand a collection consisting of rare, precious and extraordinarily valuable works.

Today we are the only reality in Florence specialized exclusively in antique jewellery and one of the very few nationally to carry out this particular field of collecting, which requires solid historical-artistic expertise. Inside our boutique it is in fact possible to admire examples of Roman, medieval and Renaissance jewellery, as well as eighteenth-century miniatures and refined artifacts from the Belle Époque and Art Deco eras.

Particular attention has always been paid to carvings and cameos: over the years we have had the honour of hosting in our shop examples of museum quality, comparable, in terms of artistic and conservative level, to some works kept at the Treasury of the Grand Dukes of Florence. Our collection certainly stands out, as well as for its high quality, also for the great eclecticism that has distinguished it since its foundation at the beginning of the twentieth century, in fact it is not uncommon to find micromosaics or talismanic objects such as magical carvings, but also precious examples of ancient scientific instruments such as sundials or globes.