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Don’t forget Florence is a centre of fashion Shop for anything in leather...
[Susan Glasspool]
Florence and Tuscany are famous for their crafts, often closely linked to the great houses of fashion because they make use of the creative talents and manual skills of many fine local craftsmen to produce what we see worn in all the top fashion shows throughout the world. Start by exploring Florence and Tuscany to discover these local crafts, many of which originated in the old “bottegas” or art workshops, that were, and still are, schools of creativity and hard work, though always open to new ideas and commerce.
There is in fact a fascinating craft world to be found in the characteristic Florentine back streets, whose very stones and walls show vestiges of art and culture, and where, if you are at all curious, you can discover hidden corners that tourists usually know nothing about, yet only a stone’s throw from the main streets. Here nature, history, culture and industry are always present, though every fresh encounter always manages to engender new feelings of surprise and pleasure.
This means that even close to the great hotels and museums, where elegant shops compete for custom, you can still find small craftsmen and workshops producing unique gifts that you can take home as souvenirs.
Tuscan craftsmen can be expert restorers (from art works to furniture, jewellery and almost anything!) or manually and skilfully produce furniture, textiles, hats, raincoats, alabaster, marble, reproductions, glass, silver and goldsmithery, jewellery, straw work, fashion, products in leather, fine embroidery, wrought iron, Florentine mosaics, stationery, bookbinding and more besides. Unique and professional!
Many of these workshops are still family-run and the craft has been passed down from father to son for centuries. They are usually only too pleased to show their working methods if you ask them. Crafts abound, you only need poke your nose inside the shops to find them! The Oltrarno, on the south bank of the Arno, is richest in crafts and craftsmen, but it is also worth venturing further afield, even into the countryside. The month of May offers a series of refined craft fairs, among them, Crafts & the Palace at Palazzo Corsini, where you can actually see the craftsmen at work plying their trade and Diladdarno.
Encourage crafts by visiting both these fascinating and most enjoyable fairs, for the craftsmen themselves are usually only too delighted when interest is shown in their skills, even when they don't actually make a sale.
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