Il Papiro

I thought this was the Italian version of papyrus. And I was right. Pricey since a lot of things, if not all, are handmade somewhere…(China? Hope not) anyhow, ask for a demo on how they make their wall paper. Paulo showed me and it was motte bien! Friendly vibe without pressure to buy. Selfie friendly

I stumbled into this particular shop with my mother on a whim after visiting one of Il Papiro’s location on via Guicciardini on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio. This shop is smaller, but it has a much warmer atmosphere. After looking around for a few minutes, the shop’s manager, Riccardo, waved us over the back of the shop where he keeps his demonstration station. He gave us an impromptu show of how he creates the marbled paper using a time-​honored technique of mixing water, pigments and some wallpaper paste.
Despite the ease with which he arranged the pigments in the water-​paste solution, Riccardo told us that the difficult part was recreating the same pattern time after time. His jovial attitude and genuine excitement for his hand-​made art was extremely uplifting when Florence is being overrun by knock-​off and mass-​produced products.
After the demonstration, my mom and I picked up a number of the marble paper products to give as gifts to friends, and Riccardo was happy to wrap everything nicely for us.
My visit here really gave me a new-​found appreciation for the marbled paper works.

This has always been one of my favourite stores in Florence… all the paper/​cards/​calligraphy supplies…
We had a nice late lunch after visiting Uffizi and walked into the store… our girlie’s eyes lit up like Christmas lights…
Nonna (grandma) was the generous soul… I steered her to pick the best choices that would serve her best for a long time… calligraphy pen, tips and green ink. Then there was a lovely family tree… of course, Nonna had to get that… then a print for my hubby that he’s been eying…
The gentleman was great. His Japanese lady helper was lovely… worth every penny… even though I did not pay this time…