Berkley Center

Before my trip to Italy, shoes were on my mind. Not only was I preoccupied with packing the right walking shoes that would get me through the long walks on Italian cobblestone streets, but I was also eager to learn about the famous Florentine shoemaking tradition. Arriving in Florence, however, was a little of a disappointment at first. The city center is filled with shoe shops, but few cobblers were to be found. However, once I found the Oltrarno, the other side of the Arno River, I could finally explore the traditional artisan culture Florence. This quieter burrow was where I got to meet and talk to various cobblers that passionately keep the Italian craftsman culture alive.

There is such romanticism involved when a person handcrafts a shoe, which is lost when a machine takes over the job. This loss of finesse is quite obvious when you step into any cobbler shop. For example, walking into Stefano Bemer is like walking into a nostalgic shoe-lover’s dream—the smell of fresh leather, the hundreds of lasts models hanging from the ceiling, and the myriad of shoes designs that line the walls. But most importantly, it’s the master artisans working ten feet from the front door that give the store its authentic ambiance.

Stefano Bemer, who specializes in five classic designs—the oxford, the derby, the monk strap, the loafer, and the boot—is one of Florence’s premier made-to-measure shoe companies. Despite the global shift towards commercialization and industrialization in the fashion industry, Stefano Bemer has resisted the trend of fast fashion. However, according to Erion Gjonai, production manager at Stefano Bemer, for the first time in history Italians are not buying made-to-measure shoes and not buying Italian shoes, but rather buying brands like Dr. Martens and Nike. The financial crisis and huge unemployment rate that Italians face have left them unable to afford the expensive price tags of bespoke shoes. Even more striking is that Italian youths are not interested in following the Italian vocational tradition of becoming artisans. Gjonai said Stefano Bemer’s training program is lucky if they get one Italian in a training class mainly because the Italian youth has a disdain for manual labor. On the other hand international customers and students flock to Stefano Bemer because of its dedication to the Italian tradition.

The “Made in Italy” stamp on the bottom of Bemer’s shoes represents the cobbler legacy in Italy. A part of the L’Art dei Calzolai guild in Florence, cobblers were well respected in Italy and had a level of prestige in Renaissance society. Cobblers had strict guidelines—they could not sell poor quality leather, they could not barter, and they had to work in the front of the store so customers could see their work...but it seems the practice of and respect for this profession is slipping away. To me, shoemaking is the heart and "sole" of Italy because it represents the Italian culture’s fixation on artistic excellence and respect for tradition. I will leave Italy with shoes still on my brain, but I will now be thinking about the endangered cobbler and how Italy can keep the craft culture alive.