If you are wearing a pair of Made in Italy leather shoes, you should know that they almost certainly come from the Santa Croce sull’Arno District, the heart of the most industrious Tuscany.
The precious craftsmanship of Made in Tuscany
It is here that the leather from cattle, sheep and pigs is treated to obtain the most suitable leather for covering shoes; it is from this tanning district that the big fashion brands draw for their most prestigious creations.
The Leather District includes the municipalities of Santa Croce sull’Arno, San Miniato, Santa Maria a Monte, Castelfranco di Sotto, Montopoli and Bientina. Its history is relatively young: as early as the mid-18th century twenty towns of Tuscany were linked to the production of leather, the first tannery of Santa Croce sull’Arno was born in 1814.
Virtuous example of circular economy
Today, the leather district continues to represent a fundamental economic resource for the area . Many companies are open to customers with outlets for the purchase of high quality products made in Tuscany.
Since then there has been a “crescendo”, with small businesses multiplying in just a few years, partly penalised by the difficulty of transporting the finished product to the major Tuscan cities. The Second World War led to the expansion and specialisation of each town in the production: the vegetable tanneries of San Miniato, the chrome tanneries of Santa Croce, the shoe factories of Castelfranco di Sotto and Santa Maria a Monte.