Nardi
Giulio Nardi (1897 – 1976) was born in Florence Italy and moved to Venice in the early 1920s. Venice is also the place where he opened his shop at number 69, Piazza San Marco at St Mark’s Square. He began by working in silver and crystal making candelabra, table ware and objet d’art before moving to jewelry. The Moretto brooch, the Venetian icon made famous by Shakespeare’s Othello is how Nardi became a notable jeweler. These brooches took the form of a Moor’s head carved in ebony or onyx wearing an elaborate jeweled turban. The first of these brooches was made for Giulio’s wife and Venetian high society took noticed and commissioned many, many pieces. Venice in the 1960's became one of the places for the international high society to travel to. Nardi became a popular destination. Moretto brooches were catapulted to European and Hollywood royalty making red carpets. Giulio’s son Sergio joined him in the business and continued to push the Moretto designs. Then Sergio’s son Alberto followed his father into the family firm continuing the Nardi name.
