By Mattia Federici
Luca Lapis is a true craftsman: one of the few left in circulation, in this time devoted more than ever to the race of technology. A man tremendously attached to the raw material, wood in his specific case, and who stands in this panorama of automations like a torchbearer who preserves the torch of work – which he carries on with his own hands.
Luca’s adventure, however, did not begin as an entrepreneur. He worked his way up the ranks and worked for thirty years in the painting industry, without ever forgetting the work of his father Ascanio, a carpenter at the farm of Il Castello di Volpaia, in whose workshop little Luca learned the rudiments of wood treatment. Hand in hand with the craft of craftsmanship accompanies you with thirty years of experience in the world of painting.
He then decided to open his own business on February 10, 2023, flanked by his colleague and partner Paolo Sciarra.
Paolo is from Rome: he is someone who has felt craftsmanship inside him since he was a child – but he will have to wait a few years for the call. He moved to Chianti and became Luca’s neighbour, with whom he established a friendship that has lasted for twenty years.
“I gave him the name Maestro,” he tells us with a chuckle, as he begins to work on wood and varnish in his spare time, fed by the small jobs that Luca brings him; until, after the unpleasant parenthesis of the pandemic, it will no longer be necessary to ask Paolo to go into business.
The two of them naturally put themselves in partnership.
They mainly start working on the restoration of new and old pieces, always staying up to date and attending courses around Italy, in order to know how to master water-based products in the best possible way, wanting in fact to respect and enhance the surfaces on which they put their hands: “None of the products we use are solvent-based,” the Master reassures us.
Restorers of furniture then, but not only: doors, stairs, fine furniture, including aluminum and iron. A profession that leads the two, albeit in their short activity, to already be able to deal with orders of a certain caliber, ranging throughout Tuscany, and that leads them to set sail for Sardinia as well.
Among the most satisfying works that Luca and Paolo proudly list to us, the following stand out: the repainting of an entire pier on a lake of a private house in Montalcino; a major restoration work on the door of the cellar of the Monsanto Castle in Barberino Tavarnelle, in Valdelsa – which led our aficionados to work directly on site, creating ad hoc grafts (such as the construction of the fire door inside the door itself, compliant with all safety standards); the restoration of the entire ceiling of a well-known villa in Florence; interventions in San Galgano.
In addition, in Chianti Luca points out the restoration of the ‘Giant Bench’, of which he speaks with great satisfaction, and the work on windows, fixtures and valuable furniture in the Castle of Meleto. Paolo, who has invented himself as a carpenter over the years, confesses that the most gratifying aspect for him is certainly to see the joy in the eyes of those who commissioned the work.
A very respectable palmares that of the ‘Master in Chianti’, who makes hard work and fairness his bulwark, always managing to guarantee that touch of humanity that is expected from a professional – and Luca and Paolo are really professionals.
Luca is dynamic, he’s on the ball, he’s ready and he’s brave. “If I had gotten tired of this, I would have gone to be a worker,” he tells us bluntly, but the desire to get involved was great and the customer portfolio cultivated over the years was no less, as was the need to feel free to respond only to oneself and one’s decisions, whether right or wrong.
After abandoning his studies at the age of 14 to start working, today Luca runs a beautiful and solid reality with its operational centre and warehouse in Greve in Chianti. Luca and Paolo remain two guys with their feet on the ground, ready to always work at their best and with discretion, guaranteeing availability and commitment without ever failing in their great sensitivity – which leads them to advise customers in the best possible way in the maintenance and use of products.
Another aspect that should not be underestimated is that of transparency: Luca is always at your disposal for those who need his expert eye and his advice on painting.
Great reliability therefore – which always pays meticulous attention to everything, leaving nothing to chance. A precise job done with feeling. A craftsman’s job.
Info: Il Maestro del Chianti, Greve in Chianti (Fi) / Cell. 339 4934149 (Luca) / ilmaestrodelchianti@gmail.com