Nepi shrugs
Italy was once known for such handmade leather goods. Today, as Chinese imports flood the market and Chinese immigrants fill factories commissioned by prada replica handbags and other designer shops, the Nepis’ small shop is a reminder of the back-alley enterprises that once thrived in Rome and Florence.
“There was a time when Florence was the place for leather,” said Nepi, a bright-eyed 31-year-old. “But then people sold all their shops to make big money. They sold those shops to strangers. …
“That was part of Italy’s richness, and it’s gone. … [Italians] were good with our hands. It was part of what made Italy special. Now, to start something like this, it’s quite impossible. How to even begin with all the bureaucracy today … It can’t be done.”
The store at Via dei Chiavari 39, near the famed fruit-and-flower market of Campo dei Fiori, was born before Nepi was. Her parents, Fulvio and Simonetta, were college students in 1972, landing back home in Rome after a summer vacation on the island of Ibiza. Wandering one day, they noticed a small olive oil store up for rent for the equivalent of $40 a month. On a whim, they plunked down the rent and figured, between sociology classes and study, they could fashion themselves as leather craftsmen.
Within a few months, the young couple realized that their skill could be much more than a hobby.
Fulvio, now 57, spent his time working the natural rawhide leathers wildly popular in the 1970s and then selling them on the street. He made his mark stitching what were essentially sturdy lunch pails for Italian laborers—bags that turned out to be popular satchels for young foreigners. Thousands of Americans who were trekking through Italy for the first time, in the breakthrough era of cheap airfares, often left with a modest Nepi original for 11,000 lire—about $10.
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