A pair of rare brocaded silk high-fashion mules, Palermo, Italy, 1700-1720

of pale blue silk brocaded with pink, white and green silk blossom and foliage, silver threads, with accentuated pointed toes, the upper edged in pale pink ribbons, insoles of white kid, high brown leather heels with chiselled angles to curve, the straight soles with black leather inserted edgings, length 23cm 9in (2)

Provenance: These shoes are believed to have come from a noble Italian family - Valguarenera.

They came into the possession of Franca Florio (1873-1950) a descendant of one of the richest, noble families of Palermo. She was a prominent and beautiful aristocrat who built up a collection in the early 1900s of clothes, shoes, books and objects which dated from the early 1600s to the 1920s, which had been previously been owned by the richest families and rulers of Sicily. She married the entrepreneur and shipowner Ignzio Florio Jnr - heir to the Florios’ vast economic empire in 1893. They were one of the most glamorous European couples of the time. Donna Franca was considered by Jean Philippe Worth to be the best dressed and most beautiful woman in Italy. Their residence, where she kept her collection, the Villa Igiea was designed by architect Ernesto Basile. Franca’s mother’s birth name was Francesa Paola Jacona della Motte dei baroni di San Giuliano. This could mean that the shoes were kept in the family and were eventually passed to Franca for her private collection.

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