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Gold gift sets the standard To find a truly memorable Christmas present, visit one of Florence's famed goldsmiths, says Lucia Graves
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`My dear Benvenuto," wrote Michelangelo to the Florentine
goldsmith Cellini in 1552, "I have for many years recognised in you
the best goldsmith we know of, but now I shall acknowledge that you
are no less a sculptor."
The bust of Cellini, goldsmith to Renaissance popes and kings,
sits at the centre of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. There he surveys
rows of jewellery shops that have commanded the bridge since the 16th
century.
But although the famous old bridge trades on Cellini's fame, these
days not one of its shops contains a working goldsmith. The gold
chains, diamond rings and pendants ...
