Alinari Foundation for Photography
FAF Toscana is the new organization founded by the Tuscany Region on July 16, 2020, in Florence, for the preservation, management, and enhancement of the Alinari photographic heritage. Its birth marks a new beginning in the long history of this archive.
The Statute of the FAF establishes that its main purpose is to promote a widespread culture of photography, starting from the Alinari heritage, preserving its authentic historical and cultural value, its physical integrity, and ensuring the best conditions for knowledge and accessibility.
Among its main objectives is to encourage the broadest and most conscious enjoyment of this cultural asset by all, also through the establishment of a Museum of Photography, and the organization of educational and training activities, study, research, and restoration.
The Foundation also aims to enhance the history of photography and its role in society, operating also through editorial, exhibition, and cultural initiatives dedicated to different techniques, styles, authors, schools, and critical investigations, in Italy and abroad.
A significant activity for the FAF is the development and management of the website through the enhancement of the narrative possibilities of the images in the archive and their circulation and reproduction.
FAF Toscana engages in collaborations with cultural and research institutions, both Italian and foreign, public and private entities and can carry out commercial activities, entering into contracts for licensing with other archives and agencies worldwide.
History of the archives
The Origins | Fratelli Alinari
The history of the Alinari photographic heritage has its origins in Florence in 1852 when Leopoldo Alinari set up his first photographic laboratory in Florence and, together with his brothers Giuseppe and Romualdo, founded the company F.lli Alinari.
The historic headquarters
In 1863, the oldest photographic establishment in the world is built on Via Nazionale, then Largo Alinari, the palace that for over 150 years will be the headquarters of the company and where the rich photographic heritage was formed, one of the largest existing archives.
Alinari and the Italian artistic heritage
In 1885, F.lli Alinari opened a publishing house and, at the beginning of the twentieth century, established collaborations with the Florentine company Brogi and the Roman Anderson.
Transfers of ownership and new archive acquisitions
Following the crisis of the Great War, in 1920 the company passed to a Tuscan group led by Baron Ricasoli and in 1957 became owned by Senator Vittorio Cini. Thanks to his foresight, archives such as Brogi, Anderson, Chauffourier, and Fiorentini were acquired, enriching the photographic heritage.
The historical value of the heritage
In the Seventies, ownership passed to the Milanese Zevi family. In 1977, a major exhibition was set up at Forte Belvedere in Florence which was successful, opening a phase of historical and documentary enhancement of the heritage.
The digital heritage is born
In 1982, ownership passed to the De Polo family which inaugurated a new strategy: the digitization and sale of images at the end of the 1990s. They created a commercial network for the sale of digital images worldwide.
The Tuscany Region acquires the heritage
In June 2018, the Superintendence of Archives and Bibliographic Heritage of Tuscany declared the Alinari heritage of notable historical interest. The Tuscany Region approved the regional law no. 65 of November 13, 2019, recognizing the exceptional cultural value of the Alinari heritage.
The Alinari Foundation for Photography is born
In February 2020, the Tuscany Region established a technical scientific committee to monitor the Alinari heritage and founded the FAF – Alinari Foundation for Photography in July 2020, marking a new beginning for the Alinari heritage.
A year later, in December 2020, the purchase of the digital heritage consisting of over 250,000 images, trademarks, and usage rights was finalized.