★ Best place to go

Birthplace & living capital

Florence, Italy

●●●●● Legendary living community · Season: Sep-Jun · Beginner -> Diploma

In the city of the goldsmiths' bridge, you learn at LAO, the first Italian school dedicated to the craft, surrounded by the bench tradition the Renaissance perfected.

BirthplaceLiving sceneHeritageVerified schoolsNamed mastersMecca

Honest level: Beginner -> Diploma — ask the school exactly how far that goes in the time you have.

★ Best course for this craft

Annual Goldsmithing Course (Goldsmithery)

Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School (LAO) — Florence, Italy

A bench-based program in a Florence goldsmithing school running since 1985, weighted heavily toward practical hours: students saw, solder, file, raise and finish metal, set stones and take a design from sketch to finished wearable piece. Offered in three-month, six-month, annual and two-year formats across goldsmithery, jewellery design and stone-setting, with deliberately limited enrolment for close one-to-one mentoring. Suited to beginners through aspiring professionals who want a full-time workshop immersion rather than short demos.

Annual course (full academic year); also 3-month, 6-month and 2-year tracks Full-time, in-workshop, small limited-enrolment groups LAO school diploma / course completion (goldsmithing)

Next sessions: Sep 2026

Full-time, hands-on bench training in Florence's historic goldsmithing tradition, in a small mentored group leading to a recognized school diploma.

Price on requestVisit Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School (LAO) ↗

Other ways in

Shorter or cheaper options — a lighter immersion, so they fit the EducatedTraveler philosophy less, but a real first step.

Complete Stone Setting Course ↗ 7 days · On-site
Same school, real bench time, but a single technique over a week lacks the annual course's full goldsmithing arc and cohort.
from €1,000
Shorter
Introduction to Rhino3D for Goldsmithing (CAD.WE1) ↗ 2 days (12 hours) · On-site
Cheap entry at the source, but a CAD intro is digital and narrow versus hands-at-the-bench immersion.
from €300
Intro

Why this school — real and cited, not my opinion dressed up

Why Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School (LAO)

Founded in 1985 by self-taught goldsmith Giò Carbone as the first contemporary-jewellery school of its kind in Italy, LAO teaches multi-year programs through named specialist faculty (e.g. stone-setter Francesco Carbone-era instructors, hand-engravers Victoria Efremova and Filippo Vinattieri, enamellists Jennifer Wells and Sachiko Chino) and runs official McNeel/Rhino CAD certification, making it one of the most established goldsmithing schools in Europe.

Where it is taught — hand-verified

Schools in Florence

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School (LAO)
Annual Goldsmithing Course (Goldsmithery)
A bench-based program in a Florence goldsmithing school running since 1985, weighted heavily toward practical hours: students saw, solder, file, raise and finish metal, set stones and take a design fr
https://artiorafe.it/en/courses/courses-goldsmith-school/
Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School
BFA Program in Contemporary Jewellery and Jewellery Design
A contemporary jewellery school in Florence offering a two-year full-immersion BFA program (six 14-week modules) capped at twelve students per year, alongside shorter intensive and summer courses combining practical bench skills with design theory.
https://alchimia.it/

What you walk away with

The credential

GIA Graduate Gemologist (GG) diploma, or Le Arti Orafe goldsmithing diploma · Certifying body: GIA (gemology) / Le Arti Orafe & guild diplomas (goldsmithing)

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Why you can trust this map

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.

Before you trust any school — mine or anyone else's — ask these five things

Who actually teaches it? Can you find them by name, with a track record you can check yourself?
Is the craft alive in that place, or is the school the only thing there? A real scene has more than one good option.
What exactly do you walk away with — a recognised qualification, or a certificate they printed themselves? Ask which.
Can you speak to someone who did the course? A real person, not a testimonial on their own page.
What happens on a bad day — weather, an injury, a teacher who doesn't show? A serious place has an honest answer.

If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.

This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.

Learn Jewelry & Goldsmithing in Florence