One flat price covers everything but the flight — three days at the bench beside Franco, a master leather artisan, plus your lodging, your meals, your tools, and the leather. One to two apprentices at a time. You leave with a piece you cut and stitched by hand.
Free inquiry, no card required. We confirm your exact dates with Franco within 48 hours. Date changes are free up to 60 days before you travel.
This is not a tour. It is not a class. It is three days inside a working life that is not your own.
Gli Aminti is a real workshop on a street where Franco and Michela have made things by hand for more than twenty years. There is no script and no audience — only the bench, the tools, the leather, and the quiet rhythm of a craftsman at work.
One to two apprentices at a time. Never a group. No experience needed — only attention, and the willingness to make something slowly and well.
Decide what to make — a wallet, a bag, or a belt — with Franco's eye on what's possible.
Sketch it at full scale, the way every piece in the shop begins.
Build a paper mock-up and hold the shape in your hands before you cut.
Finalize the design as a transferable pattern — the craftsman's blueprint.
Cut the leather by hand, learning how the hide gives and where it won't.
Saddle-stitch, burnish the edges, and stamp your name into what you made.
For over two decades, Franco and Michela have worked the same street in San Gimignano, turning raw hide into objects that outlast their makers. You won't watch a demonstration. You'll stand at the bench beside him and learn the way an apprentice always has — by doing, and by paying attention.
"Franco has a beautiful atelier filled with knowledge and wonderful stories." You come home with his point of view, not a souvenir.
Most travel gives you pictures. This gives you an object you cut, stitched, and finished yourself — and the quiet knowledge of how it's done. The $990 is one flat price, settled before you go, with no upsells at the bench and nothing to buy once you arrive.
See available dates →Three days at the bench beside Franco. One to two apprentices only. One flat price, everything but the flight.
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