Armellini

Armellini is a small family workshop operating in the village of Barasso, in the province of Varese in northern Italy's Lombardy region. Founded in 1959 by Mauro Armellini, it passed to his daughter Vilma Armellini after the founder's death in 2004. The workshop continues today with a third generation also involved, and is counted among the few brands in Italian pipe making with a woman at the head of the bench.

From Tinsmithing to Pipes

Barasso is the village that was once home to the Rossi factory, at one time counted among the world's largest pipe manufacturers; in the region, pipe making has been an ordinary livelihood for generations. Mauro Armellini's actual trade was tinsmithing; according to the story, a bet made at the village café led him to Rossi's bench in his spare time. The family's history states that by the time he founded his own business in 1959, he already had nearly fifteen years of craft experience behind him. Some sources place the founding in 1960.

The workshop's opening to the outside world was sped up through a connection formed with an American wholesaler who liked the products and carried them overseas. In its busiest period, with around ten people working alongside the family, annual output at the business reached twenty thousand pipes, and in some years exceeded that figure. Records indicate that the pipe President Sandro Pertini gave to national team coach Enzo Bearzot after Italy won the 1982 World Cup also came from this workshop.

Some pipe websites write that Mauro Armellini worked for a time within Savinelli and had a hand in developing that brand's well-known rustic finishes. Since the family's own history records no such period, this information should not be considered confirmed.