It’s hard to believe that crystals, semi-precious stones, bells and other little kitsch trinkets on sale in tourist shops all over Capri inspired Amedeo Canfora to launch his bejewelled famous sandals. Opening in 1946 a shoemaker’s shop in via Camerelle number 3, near the luxurious Quisisana Grand Hotel, just around the corner from the famous Piazzetta in Capri, Canfora became popular for being the first designer to decorate the basic leather sandals imported on the island in Roman times while emperor Tiberius was in power, with semi-precious stones and glass and metal beads.
Canfora’s flat-soled made-to-measure sandals were already popular in the ‘50s, but they became a must, a sort of status symbol, in the ‘60s with many celebrities adopting this fashion. Among his most famous clients there were also Grace Kelly, Princess Soraya, Maria Callas, Oona Chaplin, Sophia Loren, Dawn Addams and Anita Ekberg.
In 1963, Canfora even issued a collection of sandals with Latin names such as “Hora Septima”, “Hora Nona” and “Hora Decima”, the idea behind these shoes named after different times of the day was that the most fashionable tourists would have changed their sandals according to the hour. One of the clients who actually bought into this trend was Princess Amparo Carafa Caracciolo, but there was one very special customer for whom Canfora reserved a special treatment, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The shoemaker used to open his shop at midnight to allow her to choose the sandals she liked best without being surrounded by paparazzi. The legend says she used to buy ten pairs of sandals at a time and it was for her that Canfora designed the “K” sandals. Italian gossip magazines from the ‘60s are full of photographs of celebrities from all over the world shopping in Capri, trying on sandals decorated with extraordinary costume jewellery at Canfora’s.
Over sixty years after the Canfora shop opened, his trademark sandals are still hand made (though the soles are pre-cut while in the past they were cut out of leather sheets after the profile of the customer’s feet had been drawn on paper), with his daughter Mariangela adding her personal touch to the family’s creations. Nowadays the sandals are still available in the traditional soft leather, in hundreds of colours and models and in special and limited editions. Semi-precious stones decorate most of the sandals, but the nicest ones are the sea-themed sandals such as the “Tyra” and “Christina” models, adorned with rows of coloured metal starfish. 
Just looking at them you wish that all those hordes of often utterly unstylish tourists landing on the island would throw away they horrendous plastic sandals as soon as they get off their ferries and wear such comfortable, light and glamorous creations.
If you are in Capri at the moment or are going to visit the island soon, try also Vincenzo Faiella’s shop, where you can have sandals handmade in half an hour, or Costanzo’s, both the shops are near the Piazzetta. It was at Costanzo’s that Sophia Loren and Clark Gable had their sandals made in 1959 while shooting Melville Shavelson’s It Started in Naples (1960).
Canfora’s creations can also be ordered directly from the shoemaker’s website. A pair of Canfora exclusive sandals might set you back €200, but the pleasure of shopping where Grace Kelly & Co. used to shop is absolutely priceless.
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