As famous in Italy as espadrilles in Spain, the friulans (or furlanes), these traditional Venetian shoes fashioned in a smooth velvet and sewn on a rubber sole, come from the region of Friuli, in the northeast of Italy , where they were originally made by peasant women in the 19the century. As resources ran out, families imagined new shoes cut from velvet curtains and bicycle tires.
If they are still found at the feet of gondoliers, friulans are now the delight of those who wear them as city slippers (or slippers), instead of ballet flats, moccasins, and other shoes without laces. They can only be worn barefoot and, for a perfect look for the city, with straight raw jeans, a white or striped shirt and a few golden jewels.
The time when you had to roam around Venice looking for traditional stalls to bring back Venetian slippers in your suitcases is over, since almost all brands have an e-shop. Specialist in the genre, the Italian house Piedàterre, founded in Venice in 1952, offers the shoe in many colors, from mustard to azure blue. Other merchant sites (Chatelles, Capulette, etc.) offer their own version, also made by hand, in Italy.
Friulane Piedàterre Venezia, hand-sewn in Italy, 100% cotton velvet and rubber. Modigliani models, €110, and Grace (with flange), €115. piedaterrevenezia.com