Gioconda Giannini Glasses Museum, Eyewear museum in São Paulo, Brazil.

The Gioconda Giannini Glasses Museum is home to a collection of frames and optical devices that documents multiple centuries of eyewear development. The exhibits display various manufacturing techniques and materials that were used across different time periods.

Miguel Giannini, an optician working since age thirteen, began collecting frames given by clients of his São Paulo optical shops. In March 1996 he opened the collection to the public in the upper floor of a 1918 townhouse in Bela Vista, with Alvaro Ferriolli as partner and Hélio Leites as curator. The oldest piece, from the 17th century, was bought at an antique dealer in Italy.

The museum shows how eyeglasses evolved from a simple tool to a fashion statement across different eras. You can observe how frame styles shifted alongside changing social preferences and daily life.

The museum occupies the second floor of the 1918 blue-and-white house in Bixiga, sharing the building with one of Miguel Giannini's optical shops; entry is free. It sits beside the Museu Memória do Bixiga and near the Theatro Ruth Escobar. Inside, the wooden parquet floor forms patterns underfoot, and the permanent display is arranged chronologically, so follow it in order to read the evolution of eyewear.

The museum holds a Chinese model from the 18th century and a 17th-century Chinese collection kept in cases of fish scales. Other pieces include Italian frames fitted with sun visors and French pince-nez, plus a tortoiseshell fan-shaped pair made for display only.