I can’t exactly remember when we first met Claudio Cutuli. But I’m glad we did.

Bevagna, the small Roman-medieval village that is a short 10 minute drive from our farmhouse has been nearly as much as a home town for us as Cannara. It is there that we met our good friend Simone Proietti-Pesci and spent hours (and hours and hours) at the outdoor tables of his restaurant Le Delizie del Borgo. In Bevagna we made friends, discovered the foods of Umbria, began to patch together the history and culture of our native region. Much of what we have discovered in Umbria we have discovered through the prism of Bevagna.

One of the most beautiful squares in all of Italy is the Piazza San Silvestri in Bevagna. There two twelfth century churches flank a modern fountain and ancient civic building. The piazza is the center of life of Bevagna in more ways than one, with locals traversing the square to get from one place to another. And it is in the piazza that we stumbled upon Claudio Cutuli and his enthralling boutique.

A native of Calabria, far to the south, Claudio is from a long line of tinters and dyers, the family having been in the business of producing fabrics for generations. Claudio has taken the family business a step farther, exploding into the world of fashion by designing and manufacturing the most exotic and most delectable scarves and stoles imaginable.

Tucked in a sliver of a shop on the piazza, a visit to Claudio’s boutique is a treat. There Alma or Claudio or his beautiful wife Mariagrazia engage you and if you emerge from the shop in less than an hour (and without a copper brown Cutuli bag filled with scarves) it would be considered a miracle. Hundreds of scarves and stoles hang next to one another, but Alma or Claudio have no problem zeroing in on the dozen or so selections that go just right with a customer’s coloring, age, body type. Who knew scarves could be so individualized?

On our recent visits to Bevagna we have jammed a dozen guests into Claudio’s store, each one receiving individual attention as Claudio and company move from one to another, wrapping and tying and fluffing and nudging his extraordinary fabrics around necks, behind backs, knotted around finger and hands. Italian hand gestures signifying bellissima are made by proprietors and customers alike. “Brava” and “wow” punctuate the air. The energy in this tiny room is electrifying, improbably resulting from small rectangular pieces of fabric that come alive when designed by a genius and wrapped around a body.

It is the transformation of the scarf from a beautiful but lifeless piece of fabric to a living organism, the centerpiece of not just of a wardrobe but of the person, that truly enthralls. And having Alma wrap the naturally dyed fabrics around your neck is an absolute treat, as both fabric and human interact with one another, transforming both into a whole that is so much more than the sum of its individual parts, just as a great wine transforms and improves a dish and vice versa.

And perhaps that is why we are so fond of Claudio and his genius. In fabric he has found a way to make life more beautiful. To make life better, just as the other Umbrians we have surrounded ourselves with do on a daily basis.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy