Pantofola d’Oro

Golden slippers

The story behind these beautiful boots began in 1886, when the Lazzarini family set up a cobbler’s shop in the Italian town, Ascoli Piceno. The shop itself was very average, until the 1950s when Emidio Lazzarini took over the business from this father.

Emidio was a keen wrestler but thought the shoes he was competing in were uncomfortable and unsuitable for the sport. So he put his cobbling skills to use and made a bespoke pair of shoes that were softer and a lot more comfortable to grapple in. When Emidio started competing in his new bespoke wrestling shoes, word began to spread and he soon started to receiving orders from other wrestlers for a pair of similar shoes.

Realising his talent for sporting footwear; Emidio contacted his local football team AS Ascoli and won the contract to make football boots for the whole team. His real break came when Juventus’ heroic Welsh centre half/forward John Charles heard about his boots and ordered a pair for himself. When Charles was asked to describe his new boots he said, “These aren’t boots, they’re slippers – golden slippers”.

The Italian translation for golden slippers is Pantofola d’Oro.

Over the years, some of the world’s greatest footballers have worn his boots including Garrincha, Fabio Capello, Johan Cruyff, Jürgen Klinsmann, Roberto Mancini, Marco Van Basten, Dino Zoff, Paolo Di Canio and Damien Duff

If you fancy a pair too, go to http://www.prodirectsoccer.com