The Clog Maker

It is precisely in these places that Paolo Sartore, a third generation clog maker, still shows off his art. Carving wood to build the sole, reinforcing it with studs, creating the upper with leather cut out around cardboard patterns is an art as well as a craft; an art that Paolo learned from his grandfather, his father and his uncles.

"Since I was 7 years old I worked as a clog maker with my father and uncles. They gave me a hand with the nails and now I can do it with my eyes closed".

Paolo's story is one of a family, and a family business that starts back at the end of the 19th century, when his grandfather who shoed horses "decided to change his business and create country clogs". It is a story of hard work, of sacrifices, in the country markets always exposed to the elements "first with the cart pulled by the horse, then by bicycle and in '39 with a van, fashioned from the car that had belonged the Patriarch of Venice"!

The Sartore family sold not only clogs, but straw hats and velvet slippers, which replaced the noisy clogs when they entered the church: all that the peasant society needed. And it was precisely the developments in society that led to a change in production: the advent of a more modern life and the shift to work in factories, led to the creation of other types of footwear and the opening of a workshop.

"But I continued to make wooden clogs for the passion of it, to carry on the craft that also rewarded us with awards and medals for the continuity of craftsmanship". In addition to the thematic exhibitions and historical re-enactments, today the Sartore family still produces some clogs with more modern finishes and also works for theatre and film companies.

One of the most curious anecdotes told by Paolo has to do with the cinema: "I was working at a market in Piazzola sul Brenta and there was a crew shooting a movie, when Tony Curtis came off the set and saw my clogs and he wanted a pair. And so I've sold clogs to Tony Curtis too"!

Listen to the story of Paolo Sartore and let yourself be immersed in this story of times past.