--- title: "Florence Taught Menswear to Show Off. The Oltrarno Still Makes It by Hand" url: https://quietmenace.com/travel/florence-oltrarno-pitti-uomo-guide/ author: Quiet Menace Editors section: Travel published: 2026-10-29 updated: 2026-10-29 topics: City Guides, Travel Guides, Tailoring --- # Florence Taught Menswear to Show Off. The Oltrarno Still Makes It by Hand > Twice a year the world's best-dressed men crowd a Medici fortress for Pitti Uomo. The quieter reason to come is across the river, where the workshops never closed. On February 12, 1951, Giovanni Battista Giorgini opened his family home in Florence, the Villa Torrigiani, to a handful of visitors from North America. Buyers from Bergdorf Goodman, B. Altman and I. Magnin were there, along with Jessica Daves of American Vogue. Giorgini called it the First Italian High Fashion Show. It was a gamble that Italian clothes could sell abroad on their own name, and it worked well enough that Florence has been in the fashion business ever since. ## From a villa to a fortress From 1952 Giorgini's shows moved into the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti, held twice a year in January and July. The palace gave the whole enterprise its name. For two decades the focus was women's clothing. Then, in 1972, Florence turned to men. The first Pitti Uomo was small. FashionUnited puts it at 43 brands and 526 buyers in a Florentine hotel. Sources disagree on the month, with some placing it in February and others in September. In 1982, according to both FashionUnited and Highsnobiety, the fair left the palace for the Fortezza da Basso, which is where it still lives. The fortress is worth a look on its own. It was built from 1534 to 1537 for Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, to a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. Today its walls hold close to 100,000 square meters of halls and terraces, and the [Fortezza da Basso](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortezza_da_Basso) has become one of the city's main exhibition grounds. Pitti Immagine, the organization behind the fair, also runs trade shows for yarn and children's clothing there. ## What Pitti Uomo actually is Pitti Uomo is a trade fair first. Brands take stands, buyers place orders for the coming season, and most of the real business happens quietly over a table. The 110th edition ran in June 2026, and the 111th is set for January 2027 with Kartik Research and Dunhill as guest designers. The guest slot has a strong record. Dries Van Noten staged his first Italian show at Piazzale Michelangelo in 1995. Raf Simons showed in the Boboli Gardens in 2005 and came back for the 90th edition in 2016. Yohji Yamamoto and Jun Takahashi have also taken the spot. What made Pitti famous outside the trade was the crowd. In the late 2000s the Japanese men's magazine LEON started photographing attendees for a special issue, and the street style photographers followed. The fair became a runway for men in double-breasted jackets, wide lapels and very confident socks, now known as the Pitti peacocks. It is a trade event at heart, so check the [Pitti Immagine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitti_Immagine) channels before you plan a trip around it. If you have done [Milan Design Week](https://quietmenace.com/travel/milan-design-week-guide/), the rhythm will feel familiar. The fair is the excuse. The city is the point. ## Across the river Oltrarno means beyond the Arno, and it covers the stretch of Florence south of the river. The easiest way in is the Ponte Vecchio, rebuilt in 1345. In the sixteenth century the Medici cleared the butchers off the bridge and left its shops to goldsmiths and jewelers, and Giorgio Vasari's corridor runs above them, built in 1565 for Cosimo I to link Palazzo Vecchio with Palazzo Pitti. The palace itself was commissioned in 1458 by the banker Luca Pitti and bought for the Medici by Eleonora di Toledo in 1549. For anyone who came for the clothes, the draw is the Costume Gallery inside, the only museum in Italy dedicated to the history of Italian fashion. Behind it sit the Boboli Gardens. ![Black leather shoes resting on a wooden table in Italy](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1648343615199-03567050abbb?w=1600&h=1067&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop) *A finished pair on a wooden bench, the kind of work the Florentine shoemakers still do by hand. Photo by Matteo Vella on Unsplash* The district has long been tied to workshops, and the concentration of botteghe still sets its character. Leatherworkers make bags, belts and shoes, jewelers and silversmiths work precious metals, and restorers keep the city's art in repair. Via Maggio is lined with antique dealers, small galleries and artisan shops. Walk it slowly and look through the windows rather than at your phone. Nearby, Piazza Santo Spirito is still the social center of the neighborhood. The church on the square was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, who began work on the plans as early as 1428. Its facade was never finished and still stands blank, a plain wall that somehow suits the square better than marble would. Inside, the sacristy holds a wooden crucifix carved by Michelangelo. ## Shoes, leather and an old pharmacy Head east along the river and you reach San Niccolò, a narrow strip of Oltrarno pressed between the river and the hills below San Miniato. On Via San Niccolò, in a former chapel, is the workshop of Stefano Bemer. Bemer was born in Florence in 1964 and died there in 2012, and his house is now run by Tommaso Melani. The shoes are built on a Goodyear method Bemer adapted himself, and the bespoke service lets clients change every detail of the last. If you have already had a fitting on [Savile Row](https://quietmenace.com/travel/savile-row-bespoke-visitors-guide/), expect the same patience here. Melani's family also runs the Scuola del Cuoio, which means a short walk back across the river to Santa Croce. The leather school was founded after the Second World War by the Franciscan friars of Santa Croce with two Florentine leather families, the Gori and the Casini, to give war orphans a trade. It still works out of the friars' former dormitory behind the basilica, and visitors can watch the craftsmen cut and stitch. If you want to understand why a well-made [penny loafer](https://quietmenace.com/style/penny-loafer-bass-weejuns-history/) costs what it does, this is a good place to watch the hand work. Finish on the north bank at the [Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officina_Profumo-Farmaceutica_di_Santa_Maria_Novella) on Via della Scala. The Dominicans who settled in Florence in 1221 grew medicinal plants and made remedies in the convent, and tradition dates the pharmacy's opening to the public to 1612. In 1659 Grand Duke Ferdinand II gave it a royal title. Its oldest scent, the Acqua della Regina, is traditionally tied to Catherine de' Medici and dated to 1533. The rooms alone are worth the visit, and a bottle of something old-fashioned is the best souvenir in the city. For more, see [city guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/city-guides/), [travel guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/travel-guides/), [tailoring](https://quietmenace.com/topics/tailoring/) and the [Quiet Menace travel section](https://quietmenace.com/travel/). Our [guide to Le Marais](https://quietmenace.com/travel/paris-le-marais-style-guide/) makes a good next stop if you are working your way north. The best advice for Florence is the same in January as in June. See the fair if you can get in, then cross the bridge. Pitti shows what men will wear next season. The Oltrarno shows how it gets made. --- Filed under: [City Guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/city-guides/), [Travel Guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/travel-guides/), [Tailoring](https://quietmenace.com/topics/tailoring/) Hero image: Photo by Sanna Xu on Unsplash (Unsplash License)