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Sant’Elpidio
a Mare is an enchanting medieval village. It is famous worldwide thanks to
the quality and variety of the shoe production there.
The
village has developed a long lasting handcraft tradition in the centuries.
The area is first in Italy for the export and production of high quality
shoes. The entrepreneurial and creative effort and the skills of
Sant’Elpidio a Mare shoemakers have brought the local firms to an
incredible success. The woman
and man shoes produced around Sant’Elpidio a mare are much appreciated
thanks to their comfort, design and for the quality of the raw material
used together with the processing techniques.
The
Museum of the Shoe was thought
and founded in 1998 by Cav.Vincenzo Andolfi.
It is meant to promote the ancient tradition of shoe making. It was set in
Palazzo Montalto Nannerini at first. Now the palace is undergoing some
restoring works and the exhibition has been moved to the halls of
Pinacoteca Civica “Vittore Crivelli”, once Philippine Convent.
The
collection bears evidence of the development of the Art of shoe making
from the Medieval times to modern and style-caring times. The show is an
interesting panorama of the history of costume throughout the centuries.
The
exposition has been organized into three different sections. Each piece in
the sections is linked by a common base theme:
The
first room is named “shoes from time and places”. There the personal
collection of the late Cav.Vincenzo Andolfi is on show. The collection is
composed of about 130 different pairs of shoes from all over the world (most
of them date back to the first half of 1900, but there are some specimen
from XVIII and XIX century). 400 delicious fabric, metal, ceramics shoes
are on show framed by beautiful period prints and ancient tools.
The
second section “Le
Marche shoe industry” show how the shoe making tradition
is still alive and productive nowadays. The original models realized by
the students of the Regional School for Shoemakers are on show in this
room. The sense of tradition is stressed by the presence of ancient
machinery (sewing machines, a top floor dating back to the end of XIX
century, a flattening machine used in the twenties).
The
third and last section “shoes for very important people” is in constant
expansion. Several shoes are in fact presented to the museum by famous and
important people. The collection is rich in shoes worn by characters
belonging to the world of art and public entertainment such as the famous
Beniamino Gigli, tenor, but also to people belonging to the international
world of sport of all times: Gino Bartali, Yuri Chechi, Valentina Vezzali,
Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, Andriy Shevchenko and a lot more… Even the
shoes of Pope Giovanni Paolo II, Leone XIII and Giovanni XXIII are kept in
the museum.
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Sponsored
by
Comune
di Sant'Elpidio a Mare
Assessorato alla Cultura e Turismo
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©
2007 Liberation Ventures Ltd. |