Mens Vogue, Italy, April 2015
ABOUT/Scarperia
La Marzocco and Saladini: from SCARPERIA, Luxury Artisanship
The Espresso Coffee Machines and the Knives that are Envied around the World
By Gianluca Biscalchin (journalist, illustrator)
It began here, in the Mugello (a geographical area 30 km north of Florence), where a family imposed modern capitalism, cultural marketing and an obsession for beauty and quality on Florence and the world: the Medici. In lack of any military power, they understood that fine art and artisanship would excel in Europe. Today, at the same location, in Scarperia, there are two companies, albeit barely known in Italy, which are celebrated within their specific sector and which export quality.
In 1927, the Bambi brothers founded La Marzocco, the espresso coffee machine manufacturer, to produce what, at the time, were innovative devices to satisfy the nascent fashion for espresso. Over the years, the company has emphasized the winning concept of obsessive quality: notable models such as the Linea and the Strada are still built by hand with passionate care. For a “barista” to meet Piero Bambi, the 80-year old honorary president, is comparable to a young architect shaking hands with Frank Lloyd Wright.
La Marzocco is an object of cult in the best coffee shops in Berlin, Copenhagen, Brooklyn, Melbourne and elsewhere. The reason for such veneration is that one needs to know how to operate the machines: they are like a well-made musical instrument in the hands of a skilled virtuoso. For this reason, the company has never been tempted by easy profits and continues to preserve its artisanal approach. There is no assembly line at the company in Scarperia.The vast workshop maintains a traditional work method still today, made up of relationships and individual responsibility which, in the end, has proven to be a modern corporate model shared today by the colossal high-tech companies located in Silicon Valley.
The same humanistic inspiration for artisanship is the foundation of another local, eminent company: Coltelleria Saladini. In the 1960s, the small town counted about fifty workshops specialized in the craft of knife making. Today, there are only four. But excellence is still flourishing, it vibrates with the same passion that, since 1300, has provided glory in this corner of the Mugello. The Saladini family, artisans for nearly four centuries, manufactures their knives with the same dedication as in past centuries. From switchblades, which include historical “Abruzzese”, “Neapolitan” and “Sicilian” models, to blades for chefs. The steel is still molded with heat (a rarity nowadays) and the handles are made by hand, from ox horn (the most valuable), to wood (from rare boxwood to olive), to resin. To recognize a knife’s quality, ensure that there is an embossed logo. Coltelleria Saladini represents superiority which, like La Marzocco, has an important foreign market – especially Japan – their greatest fan. As is often the case, the last ones to value talent within their own territory, are the Italians.
[Photos from the top, La Marzocco’s Strada model, a detail assembling the machines (“Beauty in the Hands”), by Sven Hoffmann, courtesy of La Marzocco, an artisan at Coltelleria Saladini and the Scarperese model in titanium, courtesy of La Marzocco.]
Read the online article HERE.