WE HAVE SALVATORE FERRAGAMO TO THANK for being the grandpapa of modern Italian shoe fashion. The story of this esteemed company is legendary.
Salvatore was a man of humble beginnings, the eleventh of fourteen children, born in 1898 in the mountain town of Bonito, outside Naples. He apprenticed with a cobbler there, making his first pair of shoes when he was nine for his sister to wear at her confirmation. He took off for America when he was seventeen, and set up a little shop in Santa Barbara, California, that caught the eye of silent film stars like Mary Pickford. Within a few years he was a Hollywood sensation. Besides designing for movies like The Ten Commandments, actresses clamored for his creations to wear off the set. What’s always separated Ferragamo’s shoes from the pack is that he never wavered from his conviction to combine glamour with comfort. He was so obsessed he even took anatomy classes at the University of Southern California, so he could learn all about the foot.
A key part of the Ferragamo success was Wanda, who met Salvatore in 1939 when he’d moved his successful business from California to Florence. Always remembering his roots, Salvatore was sending money back to help out his Bonito hometown. A doctor from Bonito wrote to Salvatore, telling him he should visit and see all the good his donations had done. When he arrived, Wanda, the doctor’s nineteen-year-old daughter answered the door. Since her mother had died, Wanda was the lady of the house, and she shyly thanked Salvatore for all his wonderful work. Salvatore turned to his sister who he was traveling with and said, “I am going to marry this woman.”
Three months later, Wanda wed Salvatore, who was twenty-two years older. They had six children, lived in Florence, and the retail business thrived, along with Salvatore being named “Shoemaker to the Stars,” designing for such beauties as Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, and Audrey Hepburn.
In 1960 Salvatore died of cancer. Wanda was thirty-eight, had no business experience, and could have sold the company. But instead, she took it on, with her eldest child, nineteen-year-old Fiamma, becoming the new creative force. Fiamma, who’d quit high school to learn shoemaking from her father, went on to design the award-winning Vara pump—that fabulous square toed, chunky 3-inch heel number with the grosgrain bow. As the rest of the family joined the business, Fiamma continued to design. Sadly, she died of breast cancer in 1998.
Wanda remained a vital force, steering the company to expansion and success, to fulfill her husband’s vision. Until her death in 2018, at the age of 96, she served as chairwoman, showing up at the Via Tornabuoni store daily, elegantly dressed with her signature high heels.
Now the Ferragamo Museum, in the lower level of his Florence store, pays homage to Salvatore with fantastic displays, molds he made for the stars, videos, and photos of celebrities showing off their shoes—from Carmen Miranda to Katharine Hepburn to Andy Warhol. It’s in a medieval palace that Ferragamo bought in 1938. It even has an original well in a back room, called the Pozzo di Beatrice, named after the girl Dante went gaga over when he first laid eyes on her on the Florence bridge that’s steps away from the palace.
Shopping upstairs from the museum is a treat, especially in the boutique, where you’ll find limited edition copies of such beauties as the heels Ferragamo designed for Marilyn Monroe for Some Like It Hot. You’ve got to at least try a pair on and have sales people measure your feet like when you were in grade school, and fit you to your exact width.
Ferragamo Museum and Store: Piazza Santa Trinita 5r, open 10-7:30, www.museoferragamo.com.
The list of fantastic ready-to-wear shoe shops in Italy is endless, while finding places that custom-make shoes as Ferragamo did in the old days is becoming rarer and rarer. But here are a few where you’ll find artisans still going at it with Ferragamo’s passion:
Rome
Founded in 1946 by Tito Petrocchi, this shop thrived during Rome’ La Dolce Vita heydays. It is now run by Tito’s granddaughter, Daniela Ridolfi, who carries on the elegant handicraft, turning out classic designs for men and women made with leather that’s “like buttah.”
Florence
Stop by this family-run Oltrarno shop for reasonably priced handmade leather shoes or sandals that they can customize for you in twenty-four hours.
Venice
Giovanna was a student of the famous, eccentric Venetian shoemaker, Rolando Segalin. Her creations show his influence—including wacky styles of curved pointed shoes and ones that look like gondolas. She’s always blending originality and comfort, using fine leather and fabrics, along with bold colors. She can custom-design shoes for you, or enjoy browsing and buying from what’s on the shelves of her adorable boutique.
Positano
A perfect souvenir of this heavenly village on the Amalfi coast are sandals handmade by Giovanni, that he’ll custom-design to suit your fancy (from glitzy to folksy), just as he has for such stars as Jackie-O.
Golden Day: Visit the Ferragamo Museum and store, stop for wine and a truffle butter panino at Procacci (Via de Tornabuoni 64, www.procacci1885.it), a gem of a place from 1885 that also sells wines, olive oils, etc, from the esteemed Antinori winery.