Trevisanello: a family that has been framing art and memories for two generations

For more than fifty years the Trevisanello family has been making handcrafted frames for paintings, photographs, and mirrors, framing the memories of Venetians and travelers from all over the world.

Aldo, the founder and father of Filippo and Silvia, opened the workshop near the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice in 1959. The workshop for decades was a meeting point for the artists who populated Venice at the time. Aldo tells how they would stop by for a few “ciacola” (chats), but also to peek at the productions of other painters, friends, and rivals. Among his clients were Renato Guttuso, Pablo Picasso, Emilio Vedova, Giuseppe Santomaso, Osvaldo Licini, and Armando Pizzinato. Even Giorgione's “Tempest,” a masterpiece exhibited at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, was framed in one of his creations. Also worth mentioning are the three paintings by Picasso that he framed for an exhibition at Palazzo Grassi in 1995: The Pan Flute, a Portrait of his wife Olga, and a Harlequin.

Between the 1950s and 1980s, Venice was in the midst of artistic ferment: the Biennale, the Academy of Fine Arts, Peggy Guggenheim, major museums, and private galleries exerted a strong attraction, and the city was a magical source of inspiration for artists from all over the world. In those years, numerous painters, artists and intellectuals lived in the St. Vio area, where the workshop is also located today: from Antonio Fulgenzi to Emilio Vedova, from Mario Carraro to Sara Campesan, from Carlo Della Zorza to Giuseppe Turcato, one of the protagonists of Goldoni's Beffa, and then again Professor Vittorio Strada, Professor Giannantonio Paladini, great architects such as Piero Pinto and Elena Guaccero, archaeologist Giulia Fogolari, and in more recent years Giuseppe Modenese, the pioneer of Italian fashion, and master Fabrizio Plessi and many others.

The framing career for Aldo was not a foregone conclusion: his passion was music, which saw him singing in a fairly successful musical ensemble. One day, back in Venice after a musical season in Merano, his friend Gianni Demarco, founder of the gallery Il Traghetto, informed him of the possibility of renting a workshop in San Vio. He suggested that he open a frame workshop there to meet the high demand of those years. Aldo, who had previously worked as a craftsman in a wood workshop, tried his hand at this profession-the rest is history!

Now it is his children who carry on the tradition: Filippo is mainly involved in handcrafting frames for works of art. Over the years, he has established relationships with the most important museums and art galleries in Venice, providing custom-made frames that know how to enhance the precious canvases. Silvia is in charge of making mirrors and art frames with a sophisticated touch.

Each frame is decorated by hand using mirrors, mosaics, beads, gold and silver leaves, reeds, and small Murano glass decorations. Trevisanello's second generation has reimagined the family craft by adapting it to a more contemporary taste, creating one-of-a-kind pieces that fit both period furnishings and modern living rooms.

Although the art of the third millennium takes a more conceptual, installation-oriented approach and mixes multimedia, this family-run business is the go-to for several Venetian museums, which rely on Trevisanello's expertise, precision, and attention to detail to frame priceless paintings of all sizes. If you want unique frames for your significant memories and favorite paintings that reflect your specific desires and needs, Cornici Trevisanello is the workshop for you.

We invite you to visit their workshop and have a few "ciacole" (chats) with Silvia and Filippo, just as numerous artists have done before you. See also a small selection of frames and mirrors on Venice Original.