11 Best Places for Shopping in Florence | Condé Nast Traveler

"The late Stefano Bemer opened his bespoke men’s shoe business in the San Frediano neighborhood of Florence in 1983. (He famously took on Daniel Day-Lewis as an apprentice for ten months in 1999.) After Bemer’s death in 2012, the brand was acquired by Tommaso Melani, director of the famous Scuola di Cuoio leather school. Now housed in a deconsecrated chapel in the eastern Oltrarno, the brand still upholds Bemer’s initial quest to create perfect, stunning footwear. All shoes are designed and made in-house with high-quality leathers from all over the world (South African ostrich, Tuscan calfskin, American pony skin, and U.S. alligator), and all components—insoles and outsoles, heels and welts, oak shanks and cotton laces—are handmade by a team of local artisans." - Nicky Swallow