Leather School with Private Master

During this exclusive visit to a leather school in Florence, learn how to make your own handcrafted leather souvenir to bring home.

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Private lesson with a Scuola del Cuoio Master Craftsman
  • Make your own exclusive Italian leather journal, or a traditional pouch-style handbag or even a monogrammed belt
  • Demonstration on the traditional leather gilding technique, using 22 karat gold
  • Walk away with a handmade Italian souvenir

 

Description

Leather School in Florence: Exclusive Hands-On Experience

For one-of-a-kind, exceptionally crafted leather accessories visit the Scuola del Cuoio, or Leather School in Florence, located in Santa Croce monastery.

Founded by the Gori and Casini families alongside Franciscan monks, and adorned with frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio, the Scuola del Cuoio has the atmosphere of a Renaissance workshop and customers can watch the artisans at their craft. Logos are never engraved on the leather so that each item is valued solely on the quality of its craftsmanship. Accessories are entirely made by hand, using calfskin, deer, ostrich, alligator and python. Francesca Gori, daughter of the school’s founder, has a permanent collection of hand-cut and stitched, individually decorated, jeweled handbags. Audrey Hepburn, Steven Spielberg and President Eisenhower owned Scuola del Cuoio leather articles. The school even offered apprenticeships to WWI orphans.

Thanks to our connections we can arrange a private lesson with a master craftsmen at the Leather School in Florence to learn how to make your own exclusive Italian leather journal, or a traditional pouch-style handbag or even a monogrammed belt, or a shorter technical demonstration on the traditional leather gilding technique, using 22 karat gold. This means you walk away with a handmade Italian souvenir, and get an insight of the historical and cultural background of the leather craftsmanship in Florence.