The “Claudio e Dino” barbershop in Vittoria Apuana turns forty years old. Claudio Bascherini and Dino Orlandi are not only partners and colleagues, but first of all they are friends. A friendship born from kids who yes
is intertwined with the passion for beard and hair care. “We started working together – they say – when we were twenty years old, taking over the management of the Manetti salon in via Duca D’Aosta in Forte dei Marmi for the season. The years were 1982 and 83 and we immediately realized that the work together it worked well. So we learned that the hairdresser Clelia in Vittoria Apuana was closing its doors and we decided to get involved and open a successful company and after 26 years, still together, we moved to the current one still in via Mazzini. The first years were the hardest because the work was great during the summer and then it dropped drastically in the winter. The citizens of Vittoria Apuana adopted us, they loved us, we were two young people in their early twenties and they put their trust in us, so the work started to happen. Today – they proudly admit – we can say that we have done hair and shaves for entire generations, like the Falconi family, who have been frequenting our salon for four generations. : from great-grandfather Tonino, to grandfather Luigi, to father Alessandro and now also his sons Lorenzo and Pietro. Many VIPs also pass under our scissors and razors, but we won’t mention their names – underline Claudio and Dino -, we are discreet and then for us all customers are the same”. An ancient adage states that whoever finds a friend finds a treasure and is certainly so in the case of the two barbers, but it is also true that – in their case – the hard work and sacrifice of both of them paid off. In fact, they started working when they were little more than fourteen: Dino was in a shop in Querceta by Vinicio Tonacchera. who everyone knew as “Ilfigaro” and his son Giulio was also in the shop with him. “I started with them – he says – I swept the floors and then little by little I started taking care of the beard. It was a particular place where customers could also play the betting slip. This is where my passion was born”. In the same period Claudio had started his apprenticeship in Fiumetto in his uncle Remo’s salon. The two barber friends then decided to attend the Anam school in Viareggio and there they specialized in cuts. After many years of friendship and working together they have no doubts: “Retirement is not for us and we will continue to cut beards and mustaches as long as our health allows us to do so.”
Eleonora Prayer
