ROME (ITALY) – From recessions to political assassinations, octogenarian barber Luigi Pinzo has seen Italy go through very difficult times. However, he endured it all until the pandemic forced him to hang up his scissors.
A native of Rome, Pinzo first started working with a hairdresser when he was just 12, sweeping the floors and giving the client’s jacket a thorough brushing. In 1977, he went on to open his own barbershop in a swanky neighbourhood of Rome.
The business thrived and he had a long list of loyal patrons. But in February this year, when the pandemic broke out in the country, his clients stopped visiting fearing infection.
“People are staying at home and I am working a lot less, and then there is the fear. Given my age, I worry I could catch this virus at any moment,” said the 80-year-old clad in his trademark lime green jacket. “It is sad, but that’s the way it is.”
According to the estimates of business association Confcommercio, up to 40% of shops in Rome have been forced to close and that leaves the streets of the capital peppered with empty windows.
His salon “Luigi” also fell victim to the mass cull on Oct. 31. Before that, the establishment had barely changed. It had three polished leather chairs and a collection of aftershave in a glass cabinet.
Occupying pride of place on the wall of the shop is a framed certificate awarded by the president in 1993 conferring knighthood on Luigi for his long and successful career.
“I don’t know of any other barbers in Rome who have kept at it like me for 68 years,” said Pinzo, who used to work as a kid in central Italy before shifting base to the capital when he was 16. “I was always very ambitious. I was always looking to improve.”
In order to learn the art of scissorwork, long apprenticeships used to be the norm when Pinzo began his career. Now, people with little formal training open shops wielding electric razors.
His attention to detail fetched him a faithful clientele and when word spread that he was closing his salon, they streamed in for a final cut.
“The profession has lost its soul. It has become mechanical,” he said. “When a client comes in you have to study them, how they dress, how they are and then work out the right haircut for them. It is an art, but it is dying out.”
“I will remember the history that there is in this shop, the lovely time you could have staying here for 30 minutes to relax in the company of a person who comes from another time,” said long-standing customer Jacopo Romagnoli.