Scuola del Cuoio
The Scuola del Cuoio is a school for the leather craftsmen of Florence. Located right behind Santa Croce and a garden, it’s a bit hidden but still pretty easy place to find. It’s also closed on Sundays, so we were quite lucky to have caught it open.
Founded a bit after World War II, it began its roots through the joined effort of the Franciscan friars of the Monastery of Santa Croce and Florentine leather artists of the 1930s. Leather binding was an important aspect in Florence, and the school helped the Monastery to go back to binding their manuscripts traditionally.
Until now they still teach courses that run from as long as 3 months to a full year. You can actually peak through some of the windows before entering the store to see the students in their classes. It’s very interesting to me because I had never really seen leather artists before, and witnessing some of the best in the world was a treat. It didn’t actually occur to me how many tools were used to alter leather goods.
Despite being located in a bit of a tourist area, there were not that many tourists when we arrived there. The prices for genuine leather jackets were still out of my budget, despite being incredibly cheap compared to those in other places. The biggest reason though that I didn’t buy a leather jacket is because I come from a tropical country, and I would not be able to use these enough to justify that price I would be buying them for.
We’re aware that leather materials are cheaper outside, but buying from Scuola del Cuoio assured us of the quality, and that it is genuine Florentine leather. It’s also nice to buy here because if you have money to spare, they actually allow you to customize your purchase. We choose the colors of the buckles of the belts, and engraved initials on the leather. They also cut the belts, and add holes for free.
If you have a little more money to spare, they also let you custom design your bag. They let you choose the style of the bag that you want and the type of leather to be used. Though the bags are most likely created by students, the quality of their works are still at par because the school maintains a good standard. These students are also the ones trained to work for high end luxury bag companies and you will get your money’s worth rather than buying a generic designer bag.
Also, we were almost a week into our trip in Italy and we noticed that a lot of bags being sold which were supposedly made from Florentine leather were the same in almost every city. We could only deduce that most of what we saw on the street were probably mass-produced goods, which we wanted to avoid. We also didn’t buy designer bags or belts, because we wanted things that were unique to Florence and could not be bought anywhere else in the world
I would say that it’s worth dropping by this place if you intend to purchase authentic leather goods, but it’s not something you would feel so bad about if you missed out. It’s a good experience though to see how the leather craftsmen do their art, and for an artist on vacation, this is one place you’ll really appreciate.
