The Fratelli Recalcati jewellery store is run by brothers Guido and Fernando. The first is a watchmaker and the latter a goldsmith, who have been running this store forever.
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met them and this is their story.
This is the story of a passion, one that last a lifetime.
Guido received his first watch on the day of his communion, but it was not a new watch and it had to be fixed. So, moved by curiosity, he began by opening it to understand its mechanics and to appreciate the refined interior design.
Maybe it was not so called at the time, but Guido soon discovers that the most beautiful part of a watch is inside, guarded as a precious treasure and only visible to a few.
"I was a kid when Dad left us - he says with a light smile - and mum suggested we go to work immediately, she did not want to become layabouts" he smiles.
It was the '50s and Guido woke up every morning at dawn to leave for Milan. After the war was over it had brought well-being and the watches were much more beautiful and elegant than those he had seen previously.
"There was La Scala, great operatic works, and women wore gold handbags and men proudly wore gilded cigarette holders and pocket watches."
Guido tells us about those years, often closing his eyes, to focus on the memories and making them resurface. Then suddenly he opens them, widening them, like a child in front of a magic show. He sees again the customers and those beautiful watches that needed to be repaired, "for the day before they broke!".
He says it was a great opportunity even if it took a few hours to get there, but otherwise he would never have had the opportunity to see such wonders and really learn the trade.
Because "you can be a good watchmaker even without knowing what happened in the eighteenth century" but the most interesting part, at least for him, lies in the hidden stories. So, all his professional and human life is dotted with thousands of questions and extraordinary stories of objects and people he has met on this long journey through time.
Did you know that it was a pocket watch that brought back part of the Bounty crew to England? And that Pietro Fanzago, before beginning the construction of the great clock of Clusone, said: God gave me a certain intelligence and I will prove it by building a unique clock.
Guido speaks calmly and at the rhythm of the many objects that surround him. From time to time he stops and slowly opens a window, takes a carillon, a pendulum clock, a pocket watch, opens them, shows us the cogs and makes us hear the sounds.
For two hours he enchants us with the many objects in his shop in Via Sant'Orsola. It seems to be going with him on a journey through time, full of magic, music and care.
Every now and then his brother Fernando appears, a goldsmith, gentle and taciturn, with whom he shares his life’s work.
We leave and we have the desire to return, to listen to him again and watch him repair with such delicate patience our precious objects, certain to put our dearest memories in safe hands.
The Fratelli Recalcati jewellery store is run by brothers Guido and Fernando. The first is a watchmaker and the latter a goldsmith, who have been running this store forever.
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met them and this is their story.
This is the story of a passion, one that last a lifetime.
Guido received his first watch on the day of his communion, but it was not a new watch and it had to be fixed. So, moved by curiosity, he began by opening it to understand its mechanics and to appreciate the refined interior design.
Maybe it was not so called at the time, but Guido soon discovers that the most beautiful part of a watch is inside, guarded as a precious treasure and only visible to a few.
"I was a kid when Dad left us - he says with a light smile - and mum suggested we go to work immediately, she did not want to become layabouts" he smiles.
It was the '50s and Guido woke up every morning at dawn to leave for Milan. After the war was over it had brought well-being and the watches were much more beautiful and elegant than those he had seen previously.
"There was La Scala, great operatic works, and women wore gold handbags and men proudly wore gilded cigarette holders and pocket watches."
Guido tells us about those years, often closing his eyes, to focus on the memories and making them resurface. Then suddenly he opens them, widening them, like a child in front of a magic show. He sees again the customers and those beautiful watches that needed to be repaired, "for the day before they broke!".
He says it was a great opportunity even if it took a few hours to get there, but otherwise he would never have had the opportunity to see such wonders and really learn the trade.
Because "you can be a good watchmaker even without knowing what happened in the eighteenth century" but the most interesting part, at least for him, lies in the hidden stories. So, all his professional and human life is dotted with thousands of questions and extraordinary stories of objects and people he has met on this long journey through time.
Did you know that it was a pocket watch that brought back part of the Bounty crew to England? And that Pietro Fanzago, before beginning the construction of the great clock of Clusone, said: God gave me a certain intelligence and I will prove it by building a unique clock.
Guido speaks calmly and at the rhythm of the many objects that surround him. From time to time he stops and slowly opens a window, takes a carillon, a pendulum clock, a pocket watch, opens them, shows us the cogs and makes us hear the sounds.
For two hours he enchants us with the many objects in his shop in Via Sant'Orsola. It seems to be going with him on a journey through time, full of magic, music and care.
Every now and then his brother Fernando appears, a goldsmith, gentle and taciturn, with whom he shares his life’s work.
We leave and we have the desire to return, to listen to him again and watch him repair with such delicate patience our precious objects, certain to put our dearest memories in safe hands.
