Today Italian furniture is associated with quality and sophisticated design all over the world. Its history has always been rich with famous names and innovations. We propose you to discover the most amazing facts about Italian furniture design.

1. Italy is a world trendsetter, and has produced some of the greatest furniture designers in the world, such as Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass.

2. Great Italian furniture innovation during the Renaissance period was the ‘Cassone’, a chest with intricate and elaborately carved surface with gilded decorations or painted finishing. It is believed that the design was inspired by the Roman sarcophagi.

3. Italian furniture design in the 1910s and 1920s was very similar to that of French art deco styles, using exotic materials and creating sumptuous items.

4. In 1926, a new style of furnishing emerged in Italy, known as “Razionalismo”, or “Rationalism”, which was characterized by the use of tubular steel and was more plain and simple, and almost Fascist in style after 1934.

5. The innovative post-modern bookcase, made by Ettore Sottsass for the Memphis Group in 1981, inspired by Bob Dylan‘s song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again“, later became a cultural icon and design event of the 1980s.

6. Every year the world largest furniture fair takes place in Milan. Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano is held every April and showcases the latest in furniture and design from countries around the world.

7. A contemporary Italian home is usually furnished with a mixture of modern Italian furniture and traditional or antique pieces. For example, alongside the modern low slung sofa you will see an antique chest of drawers.