Montegranaro — the shoemakers' hilltop

Perched above the Adriatic in Italy's Marche region, the small town of Montegranaro has been a shoemaking capital since the eighteenth century. At its peak the town counted more chausseurs per square kilometre than any other place in Europe. Maison Rossano works with three of the last remaining family-run ateliers here — units of eight to twelve artisans where a single pair passes through a dozen pairs of hands. The hilltop workshops still open their windows to the sea wind, which the makers say cures the leather more gently than any dehumidifier.