INSIDE NAPLES: TALARICO HANDMADE UMBRELLAS

Talarico operates out of a tiny workshop in Naples’ Quartieri Spagnoli.

Founded in 1860, it is a legend among connoisseurs of handmade umbrellas.

It is run by an uncle and his nephew. Both are called Mario Talarico. Mario the elder began working in the bottega more than eighty years ago. He is 93.

Mario the younger is a talented artist who as a schoolboy dreamed of becoming a cartoonist, but later chose to express his creativity in the family business.

Various woods are used in the construction of the shaft and handle. After being honed to the required shape, they are steam-curved.

Among those sourced locally are Sorrento lemon-tree wood, Giffoni hazelnut, and chestnut from the mountains of Montella in Avellino province. From further afield come Tuscan cherrywood, Canadian hickory and two highly prized tropical woods – malacca, from a species of rattan palm native to Sumatra, and whangee, a type of bamboo found in China and Japan.

Usually, whangee handles are attached to a maple shaft. After years of experimentation, Talarico discovered a way of making a full handle and shaft from this species of bamboo. Its first two ‘all bamboo’ umbrellas were purchased by one of the last true Italian dandies – entrepreneur, diplomat and polo player Nunzio ‘Pupi’ D’Angieri.

Other clients over the years have included the House of Bourbon royal family (for which Talarico is still the official supplier of umbrellas), Neapolitan dramatists and actors Eduardo De Filippo and Totò, and modern-day celebrities including Russell Crowe and Henry Winkler.

Silk is the preferred canopy material. Once, silk umbrellas would need re-covering every two or three years, but today Talarico uses a triple layer of silk, polyester and cotton to give the canopy a lifespan of three decades or more, if the umbrella is well looked after.

“Once it was easy to find woodsmen to supply you with raw materials”, says the younger Mario, “but young people don’t want to work in the forests anymore”.

Talarico’s handmade umbrellas are not cheap (prices start at €90 for a full-sized wooden model), but Mario believes they are good value considering the current cost of the materials and the time it takes to build an umbrella from scratch. “We may make umbrellas for the Pope or King Charles”, he concludes, “but for us every client is just as important. My motto is: ‘stay humble’.”

Talarico Handmade Umbrellas, Vico Due Porte a Toledo 4b, Naples, www.mariotalarico.it

Photos © Roberto Salomone