19, 20 and 21 May 2023: three days in which the capital of Salento Baroque, Lecce, is filled with beauty and glamor thanks to Artigianato d'excellence, an exhibition-market of designer Made in Italy scheduled again this year in the former Church of San Francesco della Scarpa.
As usual, the names of international craftsmanship featured in the exhibition are of a high standard, which on the last day of opening matches the suggestions of Cortili Aperti, a historic event dedicated to Italian architectural beauties which once a year opens to the public prestigious otherwise private palaces.
The exhibition-market, in its twelfth edition this year, was born from an idea of Maria Lucia Seracca Guerrieri Portaluri, and virtuously mixes the great international names of designer products with highly selected local exhibitors who, thanks to the contacts developed in this occasion, they often manage to fit into wider artisan circuits, also promoting the beauty of a territory - Salento - which often becomes their holiday destination.
Over the years the event - inaugurated in 2009, in its first edition, by the Belgian royals Alberto and Paola of Liège - has recorded the participation of hundreds of illustrious craftsmen from all over Europe: among these Lucia Odescalchi, Inés from Bourbon, Sophie of Habsburg, Mara Ruffo of Calabria, Idarica Gazzoni Frascara, Manuela Solaro del Borgo, Tiziana Frescobaldi, the Florentine company Grevi, Lady Victoria Fontaine Wolf, Domitilla Gucci, Giulia Michon Pecori.
Once again this year the review will have beneficial implications: the promotion of the activities of the Sylva Foundation, an association whose objective is the recovery and reforestation of degraded areas of the territory, thanks to the proceeds from the sale of a work donated to Excellent Craftsmanship by artist Dorothée Potocka, who will participate in the twelfth edition of the event.