Norvegese and Bentivegna construction methods

[Guest]

Dear Sirs,

I recently went back to my shoemaker in Milano, Mr. Bestetti, to place a new order, for a winter pair of shoes; yes I like to anticipate ...
be ready for cold times!

I ordered a pair of Derbies, in shell cordovan leather, with a double sole. Bestetti proposed to make them in Bentivegna construction, I agreed, and this lead to a discussion of this particular construction style, together with his sister Norvegese (Norwegian).

Out of my curiosity I asked Bestetti to explain these models:

1) Norwegian/Norvogese:

for an Italian shoemaker is the same thing, as Norvegese is merely the translation in Italian of "Norwegian".
This does not have a welt, can have a feather or not, and 3 main
stitching: upper to insole (visible), upper to sole (visible), insole to midsole (invisible) and it can have (or haven't) braided stitching.

2) Tirolese

this is actually a variation of the Norwegian; main difference is that is welted. The welt being placed outside in an "L" form against the sole and upper. There is 2 visible stitches: the welt to the upper and insole, and then the welt to the sole.

3) Bentivegna

Bentivegana is similar to Tirolese, stitched with welt ('L" form like
above) outside. The welt is stitched to upper and insole, and the welt then is stitched to the sole; so we have 2 visible stitching; and at the heel, the stitching from welt to sole is underneath, like normal goodyear.

This one is interesting, because it's a typical Milanese style; in fact Mr. Bentivegna was a well-known shoemaker in Milano some time ago. It seems that there was an interesting Milanese School in shoemaking, and the three major components were: Alfieri, Mario Orio and Bentivegna.

Alfieri was the exponent of the "old school"; Mario Orio was the one who made the most elegant shoes, well reknown between the rich people of the world, and Bentivegna was the most creative of the group.
Lattanzi and Santoni have borrowed heavily from these shoemakers and have helped popularize the "Bentivegna" construction.

Hope this is of help.

Giona Granata.

PS
Thanks to Jan - T4Phage in helping writing, editing and understanding these particular styles.

[T4phage]

We forgot to add: For Norvogese, you can have the braided stitching or not, depending on your preferences.

Please also look at the Bespoke Shoes Photojournal, We uploaded 2 pictures of Lattanzi shoes to better show the Norvogese and Bentivegna. Also a page from a Japanese magazine about shoe construction. Note the "bentivegna" mention on the lower right diagram... it is wrong.

[Lookingtoimprove]

Giona (and Jan),

Thank you for the explanation. It makes thing clearer for me now.

I ordered a pair of Derbies, in shell cordovan leather, with a double sole. Bestetti proposed to make them in Bentivegna construction, I agreed, and this lead to a discussion of this particular construction style, together with his sister Norvegese (Norwegian).

And of course you shall have to post pictures of these Bestetti's as well.

Mark