Important pages of the history of Cagliari re-emerge from the archives of the ancient Martello hat shop . For this reason the shop, based in via Sassari, is today under the magnifying glass of the Archival Superintendency of Sardinia , which has started the examination of the company archives , to declare its particularly important historical interest and include it in the list of cultural assets protected by the State.
Already from the first investigations, administrative documents , period photographs and testimonies relating to the shop and the family emerged which were very significant for the reconstruction of this singular example of local entrepreneurship, which will soon be valorised and made accessible to the public.
In this context of study and new upcoming projects, on the occasion of the "Paper Sunday" event of the Ministry of Culture, on Sunday 8 October the Archival Superintendence of Sardinia proposes a meeting with the history of the Martello family, where an experiment has recently come to life entrepreneurial capable of bringing together the care for ancient creations, the love for its past and the wisdom of new brilliant designers. For the occasion, the ongoing activities managed by the Superintendency will be presented, linking them to the initiatives that the Antica Cappelleria Martello is promoting to make its history and its plans for the future known. The doors of the large iron gate in Via Marche 19 will open at 5pm for those who want to visit the new conference room of the recently restored Archival Superintendency, relive the suggestions of the elegance of the past through the display of high fashion hats and, because no!, wear precious current creations.
The Cagliari-based company, exclusive distributor of the "Borsalino" brand in Sardinia since 1888, was born from the resourcefulness of Antonio , an adventurous man from San Vito al Tagliamento (Pordenone). But hers is also a story of female entrepreneurship. Driven to Sardinia by business and a passion for hunting, Antonio opened a hat warehouse in the initial part of Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Cagliari, and then moved a few years later to via Sassari. The multifaceted successful entrepreneur, wine producer and owner of an agricultural company marries Maria Teresa Albertoni, a Sardinian of illustrious origins from Mantua. Three daughters were born from the marriage: Vittoria, Matilde and Beatrice. When Antonio died in 1938, his second daughter Matilde took over the management of the company.
During the Second World War the family was hit by dramatic events: Matilde herself, mother of a few-month-old baby, after losing her husband Corrado, artillery captain and commander of the Calamosca anti-aircraft battery, in the air raid on 28 February 1943, he takes refuge in San Vito. Upon his return to Cagliari in 1947 he discovered that the shop and his own house had been occupied, and three years would pass before he was able to resume business. From that moment Matilde dedicated herself with passion to the family business, for long decades and almost until the end of her life, almost a century old, in 2015.
The Martello hat shop with its delicate shades of beige, the windows full of precious creations and the refined dim light of its interiors represents for the people of Cagliari a piece of city history , a place and symbol of fine and timeless elegance . Today Matilde's legacy is taken up by her direct grandchildren, all strongly linked to the memory of their grandmother's passion and extraordinary exploits, and the historic shop-workshop has been enriched with new contents. Recently renovated through the refined creative recovery of Gamassi by Francesca Gasbarrini who, among other things, opened the historic back room to the public, the Antica Cappelleria Martello is not just a hat shop, it is an emotional experience for customers, a a place of inspiration for artists and creative minds, which often hosts and lends itself to experimentation: among the latest interventions, the recent and beautiful installation by Antonio Marras. Furthermore, for some time now, alongside the new models on sale, the creations of Marco Caboni (co-creator of “Velette Sospette”) and Giorgia Bistrusso have appeared: archive hats and new creations, unique or reinvented, interact with the most current fashion creating unexpected synergies between past, present and future.
(Unioneonline/vf)
