From the maker’s hands to a child’s step.
Made by hand in Monte Urano, in a family workshop of 11 people.
A hilltop town of shoemakers
A town on a hill above the Adriatic, where every family has a generation that made shoes.
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Monte Urano is a small town on a hilltop looking out over the Adriatic, in the province of Fermo, in Italy’s Marche region. Together with the towns around it, it belongs to one of Italy’s oldest shoemaking districts; here, many families have at least one generation that made shoes.
Most of the workshops are small: a few craftsmen, a few benches, wooden lasts lined up along the wall. In workshops like these, children’s shoes call for real skill, because the smaller the foot, the smaller the margin for error.
Sixty years at the bench
Bruno Vitali opened it in 1966; his daughter Elena has run it since 1998.
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Bruno Vitali opened his workshop on the ground floor of his house in 1966; in the early years he made only children’s sandals. His daughter, Elena Vitali, grew up playing with the leather offcuts from the cutting bench. She studied design in Milan, came home, and has run the workshop since 1998.
Today 11 people work there. When we founded Ottavino together, we set one condition: that we could always say openly whose hands each pair has passed through.
Why take so much care?
Feet grow stronger in conversation with the ground. A shoe shouldn’t cut that conversation short.
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A step begins the moment a baby first presses the soles of their feet to the ground. In that moment there is only a step, the ground and plenty of curiosity. We are here to keep that moment company.
Feet grow stronger in conversation with the ground; toes find their balance by spreading. A shoe shouldn’t cut that conversation short. It should hold without squeezing and protect without restricting. We call this a second skin. We walk this path alongside paediatric physiotherapists, paediatricians and sensory integration specialists.
A film from the workshop
The six stages of a pair of Salvia, in the Monte Urano workshop.
The film is being edited. Once it is out, you can watch it here with subtitles. Until then, you can see photos of the six stops on the How they’re made page.
The hands behind the shoes
Elena Vitali
Designer and workshop owner
Marco Properzi
Pattern maker and lasting master
Rita Marconi
Hand-stitching master
Giulia Rossetti
Illustrator, hand painting and box design