On 17 October, around 150 guests, among them distinguished art collectors from around the world, gathered at Villa Corsini a Mezzomonte for an unprecedented presentation: the unveiling of The Eye of Florence.

For the first time, the eight guitars were revealed to the world. And for the first and only time, they stood together, telling a love for the history of Italian art and for the Florentine Renaissance, and celebrating one idea: to bring that heritage back to life on a musical instrument.

The most solid of the arts, architecture, met the most fleeting, music, which lives in the essence of a single moment. The instant and the eternal, joined in a work without precedent, now complete.

Eight guitars inspired by the stained-glass windows of Brunelleschi’s Dome, which have watched over Florence for almost six hundred years, now extraordinary works of art in a collection that can never be repeated. A collection recognised by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, which followed the project from its very first steps and granted Fabrizio Paoletti the extraordinary honour of setting a fragment of the Cathedral’s marble into each guitar, every fragment worked side by side with the Opera’s own master restorers.

Our thanks go to Art of Guitar, our exclusive international partner, who believed in this project from its launch in Dubai and carried it to the world. And to the partners who made the evening unforgettable: Volvo Car Italia, and the wines of Trudie Styler & Sting’s Tenuta Il Palagio, curated by Tony Sasa.

An evening of wonder: the parade of the eight guitars, fine wine and delicious food, a string quartet and fireworks lighting up the Florentine hills.

We are proud to have shared it with you.