The tailor (mèste pànne, in the Alberobello local dialect) is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating jobs. Dressing men and women required a lot of skill, creativity and a love of fabrics. The tailors' windows were always clean, tidy and invited to enter a world where beauty reigned. It was certainly a trade of social importance and in fact the tailors of the past were educated, they read a lot and were happy to show off their culture; in tailor's room, for example, there was never a shortage of newspapers. Usually the tailor dressed in a shirt and waistcoat, and he always had a few needles pointed to it with the thread ready.

Old tailors used a few but necessary tools: a large table, a chair, a sewing machine, scissors, fabrics, measuring tape, paper models for clothes, the ever-present coal-fired irons and, of course, cotton, needle and thimble. Many of these authentic tools are housed in one of the trulli of Trulli Holiday widespread hotel, entirely dedicated to the ancient craft of the tailor.

The tailor's search for details, refinements and errors on the clothes was obsessive, so much so that today the Italian "tagliare" ("to cut") means colloquially backbiting.

Source: “Humanism of the Stone. Reflections”, yearbooks 1999/2008. (Gino Angiulli, professor, geologist and writer)..

In the photo: Tonino Lacitignola ("The octopus"), the last tailor of Monopoli (a town near Alberobello) who keeps working in his shop (very popular a few decades ago) pleasing many customers with his goodness and skill, despite his venerable age.