ABSTRACT
The chapter analyzes the contemporary art world of Florence in the context of my model of local markets in the United States. The historical art in Florence has been studied by many specialists, no doubt a complete bibliography would be enormous, multilingual, and represent several centuries of research. But the Italian contemporary art market is centered in Milan and Rome. Local art markets are special cases of regular markets under capitalism, where consumers’ understanding of the source of value is problematic and producers’ production goals are inextricably bound up with their identity. Florence seems about as well stocked with artists and places to see contemporary art as is St. Louis. Florentine dealers selling more avant-garde, less decorative work were unanimous in complaining that few of their customers came from the local area, while tourists did not buy their art.
