The bright blue metal shutter of the Tornitore Meccanico Di Loreto Fulvio sits flush against the weathered stone of the San Giuseppe street level. Behind that door, Fulvio spent decades working a lathe, turning raw steel into precise…
Old Town Artisan Workshops
This walk takes you into the cramped, atmospheric workshops of Naples' historic center to see traditional luthiers, leatherworkers, bookbinders, and cameo carvers practicing their centuries-old crafts.
Listen to this tour in the Mira app →
1. Tornitore Meccanico Di Loreto Fulvio
2. Liuteria Calace
The workshop at Liuteria Calace is identifiable by the dark wooden sign above the entrance, where the name is etched in gold leaf. Since eighteen twenty-five, the Calace family has crafted mandolins here, supplying instruments to concert…
3. Bottega 21
Bottega Twenty-One sits behind a plain, weathered wooden door in the heart of San Giuseppe. Before it became a destination for local cocktails and late-night conversation, this space functioned as a quiet workshop for local artisans. The…
4. LIUTERIA Clara Contadini
The workshop of Liuteria Clara Contadini features a distinctive wooden sign hung above a door tucked into the narrow, winding alleys of San Lorenzo. Clara Contadini carries on the centuries-old Neapolitan tradition of crafting violins,…
5. La Scarabattola
La Scarabattola stands apart with its heavy wooden door framed by ornate, carved stone columns that seem to strain under the weight of the masonry above. Inside, Giuseppe and Gennaro di Virgilio run a workshop that carries the tradition of…
6. Il Piccolo Museo del Cammeo
The entrance to the Museo del Cammeo features a sign displaying a carved portrait, marking a small space dedicated to the art of shell engraving. This workshop serves as a gallery for the Ascione family, who have practiced the craft in…
7. Molli - Scultura in Legno e Restauro
The storefront of Molli Scultura in Legno e Restauro displays wooden carvings and partially cleaned statues through a dusty glass facade. Inside this small workshop, master craftsmen spend their days reviving religious figures and ornate…
8. Legatoria Artigiana
The Legatoria Artigiana occupies a small workshop tucked away in the dense streets of San Lorenzo. You can identify the shop by the stacks of handmade leather journals and the scent of aging paper and glue that drifts out the open door.…
9. Doll Hospital
The Ospedale delle Bambole in the heart of San Lorenzo occupies a series of tall, glass-fronted cabinets filled with porcelain heads, dismembered limbs, and tiny glass eyes. Luigi Grassi founded this workshop in eighteen ninety-five after…