Each time I pass though the barber’s door in Loreto Aprutino I feel as though I’m transported into a different world. The atmosphere just wraps me up and makes me feel I could spend a good relaxing hour or two listening and chatting to Gabriele’s regular customers.
It’s much more than a barber’s shop. Like a bar the daily newspapers are provided and anyone can pop in for a read and a conversation about the current and not so current topics. It feels like a social club in which the only rule is to be civil and if you’re having a cut, patiently wait your turn.
Gabriele has been cutting hair in the same spot for 49 years. The salon is decorated in muted green colours with many memories on the walls. You can tell he’s interested in sport with plenty of cycling and football pictures on display. He clearly loves Abruzzo and the town of Loreto Aprutino as any space that isn’t taken up with cycling or football photographs is covered with images of local festivals and stunning views of the region.
This is an old school barbers. The first time I visited I said I wanted short hair (limited vocabulary on my part) and Gabiele obliged. I sat back and relaxed to the clicking of scissors and did my best to answer his questions and those of his customers who stayed back, curious about the new face.
Now when I visit I ask him for a number 2 and after he has buzzed around my head he completes the job with careful application of the scissors. If you’re going to do the job right you have to use a scissors.
I love the place. Things move slowly there. There are other barbers near Loreto but for as long as Gabriele is in business I can’t see myself going anywhere else.
He’s seen a lot of changes in the town and a lot of changes in his shop too. In the corner there’s a child’s chair with a horse’s head. Like a rocking horse but built to be steady for safe haircuts. Any child sitting on that chair would be out chasing baddies, herding cattle or escaping with the loot, while his hair was being cut. It isn’t used much these days though. Gabiele says that most kids get their hair cut with their mothers in the parrucchiere (hairdressers).
Anytime I’ve visited he’s had a steady flow of satisfied customers and a steady flow friends just stopping by to say Ciao.
There used to be a children’s TV series on BBC called Mr Benn. In the series Mr Benn, on visiting a fancy dress shop, trying on a costume and walking through a magic door, would be transported to a strange world of adventure. The door into Gabriele’s isn’t magical, there’s no fancy dress costume, but the world I feel transported to is wonderful, one in which things happen in their own good time.
Grazie Gabriele.
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