Marinella ties from Italy are objets d’art

Naples – Film star Marcello Mastroianni, John F Kennedy, even Prince Charles, have all donned handmade ties from a shop in Naples so famed for its artisanal finery some devotees boast thousands.

The painstaking needlework cannot be rushed, despite demand for E Marinella ties usually far outstripping production.

In Naples, the tiny shop near the sea remains much as it was when it opened in 1914, with its wood-framed windows, chandelier and counter where the red, blue, polka dot or diamond-patterned ties are displayed.

Maurizio Marinella, 64, who is the third generation to head up the company, says his family’s success in the southern Italian city, which struggles with poverty and unemployment, was “a kind of miracle”.

“It all started in 20 square metres in Naples, where everything is a little more difficult than elsewhere,” he said.

Maurizio’s grandfather Eugenio wanted to create “a little corner of England in Naples” in this city with its view of Mount Vesuvius, offering men’s shirts and accessories with fabrics shipped directly across the Channel. Little by little, however, the tie became Marinella’s signature piece.

The silk is still hand-printed in Macclesfield, England, and the ties are sewn by hand in a workshop close to the boutique.

Rudy Girardi has been frequenting the shop since his late teens and now boasts “thousands of Marinella ties”. He says loves Marinella for its “maniacal care for every detail”.

He changes his ties several times a day, selecting a colourful one in the morning, something a little more institutional in the afternoon and an elegant option for upmarket dinners.

Each Marinella tie takes 45 minutes to make. “It’s precision work, comparable to a goldsmith. We work on half-millimetres,” says Maria Rosaria Guarino, 60, who has worked for the company for 38 years.

Every day, about 150 ties are produced. But the demand pre-coronavirus crisis was much higher – double or even triple. And in the three months leading up to Christmas, it could be “as high as 900 ties a day”, Marinella said. –