The tradition of knife grinders is a well-known part of the Val Rendena heritage. It has shaped migration flows from Val Rendena to overseas countries and European islands. The craft of the moleta, as it is called in the local dialect, tells the story of a valley. A story of its people, migration, work, and passion.
Rooted in tradition yet enriched by design, this is a story where choosing a knife at Lorenzi Cutlery in Madonna di Campiglio becomes an experience of style, a perfect blend of Italian craftsmanship and stories from around the world.
In the heart of summer, we met Roberta in her knife shop in Madonna di Campiglio.
LORENZI CUTLERY: A TRADITION TURNED GLOBALIt was necessity that brought the art of sharpening blades from the Val Rendena to the whole world, especially after World War II. Arriving in foreign metropolises, the sharpeners of Val Rendena rolled up their sleeves, going around the city sharpening blades and renting knives.
Today, it is the children and grandchildren of those emigrants who manage a business that, born out of necessity, is highly profitable and maintains its historical roots because it is carried on by a few family-run businesses. A humble job that became a global business.
One of these families from Val Rendena is the Lorenzi family, originally from Mortaso, a small hamlet in the municipality of Spiazzo Rendena.
Roberta tells us about the family tree, from the grandfather to the uncles: a family tradition that has seen the establishment of prestigious knife workshops and, in 1973, the opening of the knife shop in Madonna di Campiglio as a branch of the one in Milan.
In Piazza Righi, the art of sharpening is carried on with passion and professionalism by Roberta together with her husband Michele and their children.
With the family tree in hand, Roberta shows us the dedication from uncle Franco: "To Roberta, my dearest niece, hoping for continuity."
"To Roberta, my dearest niece, hoping for continuity."
A dedication that becomes an artisanal experience in the heart of the Pearl of the Dolomites.
The Madonna di Campiglio shop: craftsmanship and style
Roberta does not sharpen blades: she chooses them, cares for them, and places them on the shelves and showcases in the two-story knife shop in Madonna di Campiglio.
When you enter the store, you breathe the tradition of an ancient craft, the globalization of an art, the faces of a valley. You will find not only professional and sporting knives, but also shaving products, manicure tools, brushes and hair accessories, cutlery, niche perfumery.
Thus, buying at Coltelleria Lorenzi becomes an intense experience, where the object becomes a crafted item, a style element, an object for life.
The sharpening stone of Val Rendena: from work tool to status symbol
Sharpening stone, knife sharpener, slaifera and carisola: it became a historic monument at the entrance to the town of Pinzolo (the monument to the Moleta was made in 1969 by Silvio Bottes), dedicated to the many emigrants who, during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, left Val Rendena in search of fortune. It is the tool par excellence that embodies the figure of the moleta, also because without the sharpening stone knives were not sharpened.
The most representative is the pedal type, a wheelbarrow dominated by a stone with a water tank that kept the grinding stone always wet. On the back of the stone is a small cabinet with work tools, a change of clothes, and sometimes some food supplies were stored.
The wheelbarrow was perfected from generation to generation, reaching the bicycle version, then the vespa and motorcycle version.
In the Lorenzi Cutlery shop of Madonna di Campiglio, there is no traditional sharpening stone of the sharpeners from Rendena: Roberta has never held one.
And it happened naturally and suddenly: one summer morning, in the heart of Mortaso, one of the most historic villages in Val Rendena, the slaifera of the "Associazione Culturale la Trisa" in hand, the rough wood of the handle, the rusty iron of the wheel, the stone of the houses. The branch of the family tree of the Lorenzi patriarch traces the lines of children, fathers, mothers, grandparents, uncles.
It is the story of Roberta and an entire generation who left Val Rendena and sometimes returned.
