Paulo and his family store was an amazing experience. I walked by this store after it had closed…read moreour first day in Florence. Several of the designs in their window caught my eye so I returned first thing the next day. Their shop has 3 unique leather techniques I have not seen at any other store. I love the feel of soft smooth leather, but usually find leather heavy, especially if it has a basket weave pattern since that doubles the weight. BG has 2 patterns that look like a weave- one a geometric square pattern, the other a raised "pinch" pattern, but are actually cleverly sewn from a single piece of super soft, thin leather. Their 3rd weave pattern creates these gorgeous optical illusions of 3d circles/waves. I was blown away by the craftsmanship, thr lightness of the leather, and the gorgeous colors- classy greige and powder blue, rich burgundy, evergreen, and navy, and luxurious gold and bronze. BUT I didn't want to get carried away and blow my budget before checking out the rest of the city. So I left and started looking. Basketweaves were all over Florence, of varying colors and qualities. But nothing like the 3 I saw at BG. I went back this time w my motherinlaw who has much more experience in high end luxury names and products, and she immediately declared the quality of the leather and uniqueness of their patterns a definite buy. Paulo was so helpful, quoting her an amazing price (similar to many prices we had heard from sellers of products at the mercato stalls without the same quality, workmanship，or guarantees. In fact, she decided to custom order her bag for the colors of her choice in the design she wanted. While she was deliberating, I wandered into the back and found- their amazing leather coats! A super classy reversible 3/4 length deer suede/leather jacket w an intricate mandarin collar and cuffs using an alternating basketweave. Gorgeous! flattering! Buttery soft and light as a feather! But then... Paulo showed me their piece de resistance, this gorgeous buttery white/greige 3/4 sleeve cropped jacket w this mod funnel collar- with their special geometric square pattern detailing the cuffs and collar. So gorg!!!! Yet again, I wanted to make sure I wasn't just being a rube from america... And I spend the next day checking out several recommended shops around Santa Croce, high-end stores near the Ponte Vecchio and... I even found a store that had attempted to knock off their pinch-weave and their optical illusion weave- but couldnt nail either look. The leather was too thick and bulky, the stitching on the pinch pattern was easily visible, they couldn't carry off the 2-tone weave so they did single color, etc. And believe it or not, they were asking the SAME price as BG! I also found another store that knocked off their black deerskin coat, but again they just didnt get the leather or the fit right- little details kike the pockets being way too shallow, and tightness at the elbows w movement.... And yes, asking the same price! So today, I ran back to BG ready to use up all my vacation allowance on clearly the best shop in town.... Sadly Paulo has left to attend his daughter's exams, which I thought was incredibly sweet, but his nephew was there to help me place my order. I had hoped to let Paulo know how much I loved the beauty of the design and quality of their family store, and how much I had appreciated his enthusiasm for showing all the products to my motherinlaw and myself even when we weren't ready to commit earlier in our trip. He was so kind and classy, and their products are really so gorgeous and incredibly fairly priced, that I'd easily be convinced to buy maybe one more thing if I wasn't literally leaving town before they open tomorrow! I am incredibly happy w what I ordered and we had been so enthusiastic, we convinced several of the people in our tour to come take a look and make purchases too!
