The Galleria Piselli Balzano dates back to 1967, when Mirella Piselli founded an enterprise fully devoted to the dealing and sale of fine antique works of art. During the first years of activity, the Gallery mainly dealt in Renaissance majolica and classic pieces of furniture. At the beginning of the 1980s, Mirella Piselli’s interest shifted towards antique textiles, which she premiered at an exhibition dedicated to 15th century Florentine figurative strips, at the Florence International Biennial Antiques Fair at Palazzo Strozzi in 1981. The special attention dedicated to textiles made the Piselli Balzano antiquarians among the few European art and antique dealers to specialise in this field. Furthermore, thanks to their expertise and the constant search for exceptionally preserved textiles, many of which formerly belonged to the Piselli Balzano collections, their items have been acquired by important Italian and foreign museums, namely the Bargello in Florence and the Swiss Abegg Foundation – the latter holds one of the most important collections of ancient textiles in the world. Mirella’s son Paolo Balzano entered the business in 1993, continuing on with his mother’s activity, pursuing the same passion and expertise, keeping their strong interest in ancient textiles alive.