The Florence International Antiques Fair — held in the stunning 17th-century Palazzo Corsini on the bank of the Arno River — certainly has plenty to offer in terms of ambience. Add to that 90 dealers bringing a superb collection of paintings (chiefly Italian and Old Masters), European furniture, maiolica, medieval and Renaissance works of art, and Italian sculpture, and the result is a spectacular event. The nine-day fair, which held a vernissage on Sept. 25 and is open to the public through Oct. 4, is the most important in Italy, drawing huge crowds of locals and enthusiasts from countries including the United States, Switzerland, and Germany.

For this, the 50th year of the biannual fair, known in Italy as XXVI Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell’Antiquariato, organizers Mostra Mercato actively recruited such top international dealers as Bernard B. Steinitz (Paris), Pelham Galleries (Paris and London), Robilant+Voena (London), Tomasso Brothers Fine Art (Leeds), and Trinity Fine Art (London), whose large modello for the tomb of Pope Innocent XI Odescalchi, circa 1697–98, won the €10,000 ($15,000) prize for the finest sculpture shown at the fair. (The modello is on offer for €950,000, but Trinity co-owner John Winter said he was looking for an Italian buyer, as he doubted that exporting the piece from Italy would be allowed.)

Even the prestigious Paris gallery Kugel was a participant, sort of. Kugel did not have a booth, but it exhibited a few Russian objects in a glass showcase on the ground floor (interested buyers could contact the gallery) — a gesture that met with both glowing praise and strong criticism, depending on whom you asked.

There was a strong feeling throughout the opening days of the fair that the European market — while certainly not buoyant — has held up better than the American one. Alan Rubin, the owner of Pelham, opted for the Florence show rather than New York’s International Fine Arts & Antique Dealers Show later this month. “It was too complicated to do both shows,” he said, adding that “many American clients are here.” His booth at the fair was all Italian, with decorative arts pieces ranging from a Neapolitan harpsichord to a Sicilian parasol used by either a cardinal or a countess.

“We thought we should show these masterpieces to the Italians,” Rubin said. He added that on the opening weekend he’d had “strong interest” in his chinoiserie pieces, including a Piedmontese painted and parcel-gilt lacquer cabinet on a stand decorated with scenes of Chinese ladies in a landscape, priced at €275,000.

Adam Williams Fine Art of New York sold a painting by Venetian artist Giandomenico Tiepolo, Head of Philosopher With Red Hat, “the minute the fair opened,” for an undisclosed six-figure price. The painting is from Tiepolo’s philosopher series, which was based in part on an earlier series by his father, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, though no known painted prototype exists for this particular work. It does, however, correspond to an etching by Giambattista and a drawing by Giandomenico, “which always helps, says Williams.

Robilant + Voena also had a first-day sale: Giovanni Boldinis Nude of Seated Girl, which went to an Italian buyer for €350,000. The charming picture of an uninhibited model posing for the artist could bring back a revival on unshaved armpits. The painting first sold at auction to a private collector in 1932 and was exhibited at the Venice Biennale the following year.

One of the most stunning paintings in the fair was the austere Saint Francis in Meditation by the great 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran. The dark, mystical painting of the kneeling saint wearing a habit with a pointed hood and holding a skull is priced at €1,500,000. It was recently rediscovered in England and will be included in a forthcoming monograph on the artist to be published by the Wildenstein Institute. Like many other works at the fair, this one has been on the market for a while. It was shown at a fair in Milan four months ago.

In terms of newer work, which is allowed in the fair but is not its strong suit, perhaps the most outstanding display was the monochromatic show put on by New York’s Sperone Westwater. Gian Enzo Sperone wrote the catalogue to accompany the exhibition of 13 artists, some of whom — Arman, Lucio Fontana — are very well known, while others, who were once lauded, have since dropped out of sight. “We found interesting material by artists who were almost totally forgotten,” says Sperone, giving as an example the German artist Herbert Zangs, one of whose works, an untitled 1953 composition of painted white cotton on fabric, sold for an undisclosed price. A blue work by Fontana, Concerto Spatiale (1953), made of oil and glass pebbles on perforated canvas, sold for €700,000.

The Tomasso Brothers, from Leeds, England, have been making a big splash in sculpture in recent years. Their booth in Florence was a foretaste of what is to come at the exhibition they are mounting Oct. 15-24 in New York at the Williams Moretti & Irving Gallery. On the opening weekend they sold a 19th-century marble sculpture of Ganymede and a maiolica dish, both for five-figure prices. They also had several people interested in 15th-century artist Gregorio di Lorenzos marble relief Portrait of King Ferdinand I of Naples, priced at €550,000.

While it remains to be seen whether interest will transmute into sales, the mood in Florence, at least, was good.