A gift for the new president
29/01/2009
An Italian footwear craftsman has spoken of the roundabout route he has taken towards becoming a shoe supplier to the new US president, Barack Obama.
Adriano Stefanelli, whose workshop is in Novara in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, has been the papal shoemaker since 2003, creating the now-famous red leather slippers that won Pope Benedict XVI a place on Esquire magazine's list of 'Best Dressed Men' in 2007.
When the Pope made a pastoral visit to the US in April 2008, then-president, George W. Bush, admired his Stefanelli shoes. Soon afterwards, the shoemaker says he received "an indirect request" to make a pair for the president.
"I made President Bush a pair of shoes that was based on the red slippers the Pope wears, but in black," he says. "I sent them to the US and received a note of thanks from Bush, and also from the US embassy in Rome. As a joke, the note from the embassy said I should perhaps think about making a pair for the new president too, so I have."
He says he drew inspiration from the type of shoe President Obama normally wears and constructed a pair of formal, welted shoes in black calf leather. He describes them as "classical and elegant, and in a perfect 'Made in Italy' style".
He sent the shoes to Washington immediately after the new president's inauguration on January 20.
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