The Museo della Calzatura Pietro Bertolini (Museum of Shoes) at Vigevano (Lombardia) celebrates a milestone event this year: the 60th anniversary of the high heel one of fashion's favourite accessories. Vigevano has a very long tradition in shoe.making that stretches back over seven hundred years to 1392. According to museum curators, the high heel was invented here in 1953 and to prove it, the anniversary exhibition includes models of historic brands from the 50s and 60s of the 20th century.
This fascinating museum is situated inside the Sforzesco Castle, which is twice the size of Buckingham Palace in London and three times the size of St. Peter's, Rome. It has a collection of over five hundred shoes, dating from renaissance times, with a shoe worn by the noblewoman Beatrice D'Este in 1494, up to the present day. Among the shoes you can admire on display are Alexander McQueen's decollet model of 2010, the traditional red slippers worn by the Popes (until Pope Francesco stopped the custom, prefering normal shoes), a pair of green satin decolletè belonging to Marilyn Monroe, Anita Ekberg's footwear in La Dolce Vita, the bizzarre creations worn by pop singer Lady Gaga and the sports shoes of basketball champion and rapper Shaquille O'Neal..
Info: www.comune.vigevano.pv.it - direzione_musei@comune.vigevano.pv.it