Antica Occhialeria: where vision takes shape

Since 1956, a Florentine workshop has been handcrafting custom-made eyewear the old-fashioned way: three generations, a hidden workshop, and the unhurried pace of a craft that has become an identity

There is a street in Florence that doesn’t raise its voice. It doesn’t demand attention; it doesn’t expect it. It simply lets you pass through. It is Via San Gallo, at number 130 (marked in red), just beyond the more touristy heart of the city center, where the city takes on a more everyday feel and, for that very reason, feels more authentic. Here, a discreet storefront opens onto an interior unlike any ordinary shop: light wood, steady light, the scent of crafted materials. And behind that threshold, since 1956, a stubborn idea has continued to take shape. That of a small and ancient object: the eyeglass.

A story that begins with a glance

It all began with Lucio Enrico Di Nardo. An optician by trade, a collector by vocation. Even before he became an entrepreneur, he was someone who truly observed: objects, eras, and the traces things leave behind over time. To him, vintage eyeglasses were not merely tools for seeing, but small narrative devices. They told stories of faces, social classes, vanished fashions, and everyday gestures. When he opened his shop in the heart of Florence, he never imagined that curiosity would become a family tradition. Today, three generations later, that same intuition is still alive at Antica Occhialeria: the idea that eyewear is not just a visual aid, but a form of identity.

Antica Occhialeria

The Art of Looking and Being Looked At

Wearing glasses is a strange thing, if you think about it. It’s a functional act, certainly, but also a deeply intimate one. Because it changes the way we see the world—and, at the same time, the way the world sees us. A frame is never neutral. It’s a chosen frame. An accent. Sometimes a silent statement, other times an elegant shield. Always, however, a presence. Here, in the shop, they know this well: every face is a story that must be heard even before it is measured.

A Custom-Made Frame for the Face

At Antica Occhialeria, there is no rush. There is a conversation. We start with the face: the features, the skin tone, the eye color, the posture. Then we listen to the rest—often what the customer doesn’t say right away. And only then does the construction of the glasses begin. The shape, the thickness, the curve. And then the material, which here is almost a language: acetate, with its over one hundred variations ranging from transparencies to solid tones, deep marbled patterns, and colors that seem liquid. There is a moment in the workshop when the choice becomes almost tactile: like choosing the fabric for a suit that doesn’t yet exist. And in fact, that is exactly what happens. Every pair of glasses is created for a single person. And for no one else. Sometimes a hidden detail is engraved: an initial, a date, a short word that will remain invisible to others but not to the wearer. A tiny secret, woven into the material.

Foto di famiglia

Where time works with the hands

Behind the shop lies the workshop. It is here that the promise becomes a tangible object. It takes about two weeks for a pair of glasses to take shape. Not because technology is lacking, but because time is needed. And because time, here, is part of the process. The acetate strips are cut and shaped. The temples are heat-bent, with gestures that always seem the same yet are never quite the same. The frames are smoothed until they become a surface. The hinges are attached one by one. The metal details are set like tiny points of light. Each piece passes through the artisans’ hands multiple times. Not like on an assembly line, but like a slow conversation between material and gesture. And in those gestures, a continuity is recognized: something that is passed down without needing to be explained from scratch each time.

Three generations, the same vision

Seventy years after the first workbench, Antica Occhialeria is still a family business. Times change, materials change, customers change. But the core vision remains the same: a pair of glasses must be well-made, must be the right fit for the wearer, and must last. Lucio Enrico Di Nardo’s passion was passed down to his children, then to his grandchildren. Each has added something, without ever straying from the original vision. This is why the workshop is part of the Association of Historic Florentine Businesses: not merely as a label, but as recognition of a rare continuity. That of a craft that endures not because it is preserved, but because it remains necessary.

Antica Occhialeria

For those passing through Florence in search of something authentic

Florence is full of things to see. But some can only be discovered by those who slow down. At Via San Gallo 130 Rosso, those who enter often do so by chance. Out of curiosity. Because a window display caught their eye without making a fuss. Then they stay a few minutes longer. Then they return. Because here, you don’t just buy an object. You go through a process. You step into a different time. You leave with an appointment, and a few days later with a pair of glasses that didn’t exist before — and that will never exist exactly the same elsewhere. And perhaps that is the point. That somewhere in Florence, since 1956, there are still those who handcraft a way of seeing the world.

Antica Occhialeria
Via S. Gallo, 130r - ph. +39 055 473055
Piazza di Santa Maria Sopr'Arno, 1r - ph. +39 055 014 3330