As promised, here’s the write-up to my visit to Mastro Livi’s workshop in Perugia on Tuesday 14 August. (Health warning: this is going to be a long post. Apologies in advance to those less than obsessive SRP members!)

The Mastro’s workshop is situated in an industrial area in the southeast of Perugia, a mediaeval city built into the hills. I had arranged to drop by his workshop to pick up in person the custom piece I had spec’ed out for him three months back (the spec was the result of research of Livi razors in SRP, as well as this thread.)

As I stepped into the small industrial building with simple signage “Livi Coltellerie” out of the blazing heat of the Italian mid-morning sun, the Mastro was stood behind a continuous glass-topped counter which stretched around the small front of house. He greeted us warmly and introductions were made all round (Luca, his son, emerged from the tiny single room office and his wife was also behind the counter).

Although the front section was small, it was surrounded by glass cabinets full of the Mastro’s razor work.


On the walls were hung mediaeval style swords, axes, and weaponry. A cornucopia of steel art! The old adage of being like a kid in a sweetshop never rang so true. The Mastro took me by the elbow and steered me to one of the cabinets and proudly pointed at the finished piece I had commissioned. It looked amazing and, being totally biased of course, it seemed to out-shine and out-straight every single one of the others in there. The Mastro unlocked the cabinet, took it out and handed it over to me (star wars geek analogy: like Luke getting handed his light sabre from Yoda, ha ha!) I opened it up, held it as if ready to shave, and marvelled at the sweet balance of it. Perfetto!