Coltelleria Rivola
piazza Ercole Luigi Morselli, 3 - Milano
In a small square located by Via Canonica, between the areas of the Arena and Chinatown, there is a decadent and fascinating old “cascina” (a typical italian farmhouse).
Amongst the very few shop windows set up along this street, one in particular captured my attention, and I felt the need to follow my curiosity and enter the shop to better explore it.
Inside, I found top quality barber lotions and balms, various kinds of brushes, razors with refined handles, knives with damasked blades, artistic and rare perfumes, travel necessaries fit for a prince, sommelier sabers for a perfect sabrage, designer barbecue and slicer machines, and any other object you can think of that can be used for men’s vanity products or simply for personal entertainment (and much more).
Rivola is a historical Milanese shop, and lives in this neighborhood since 1926, moving every now and then a couple of stores up or down the street because of greater causes, such as war.
Andrea is the shop owner, he is the head of the family business and the one who brought the shop’s quality to a superior level thanks to top quality products collected and offered to the customers through a precise and accurate process of research and selection.
The simple concept behind this shop is to combine business with pleasure, or rather to join what is useful with what is enjoyable and fun, and Andrea has managed to do so perfectly! It’s not quantity, but quality that matters and makes a world of difference. Here, you can find the 'Kanetsune' or the 'Miyabi’, deadly japanese knives born from the katane, and made to be resistant but flexible; also the magnificent slicer invented by butcher Wilhelmus Adrianus Van Berkel, better knows as the “Berkel model”; the curious “Nasomatto” perfumes invented by the wit of Alex Gualtieri, which bear names that evoke perfumes that are illegal in Italy, such as 'Black Afgano' and 'Hindu Grass’; the fascinating and artisan mysterious fragrance bottles by 'Mendittorosa’; and the elegance of the best English brands such as 'Creed' and 'Penhaligon’s’. The shop’s barber products are also English: Andrea’s personal favorite in terms of barber creams is by ‘Dr. Harris & Co.’, the shoehorns, the razors, the brushes and the artisan neccesaires created by 'Mariella Martinato’, the air freshener scents by florentine artisan 'Dr. Vranjes' stored inside bottles whos design is inspired by Brunelleschi’s dome, and the designer table objects signed by ‘Pandora’.
All in all, Rivola is a classic neighborhood shop, with an added touch of great taste, passion and quality.