There are shops that have made football history without ever appearing on television. In Turin, that shop was that of Marco Magrini. With his passing, at just 64 years of age, the last great craftsman capable of transforming leather into a precision instrument for the most refined feet in Italy passes away.
The history of this excellence was born in the mid-sixties, when Angelo Magrini founded a small artisan business driven by a profound conviction: «Feet carry us into the world. They are our daily journey”. Initially dedicated to athletics, bowling and professional driving, the shop realized in the 1970s that football needed a revolution. In an era of rudimentary and heavy shoes, the Magrini family introduced the concepts of softness, lightness, elasticity and stability. It is from this technical awareness that Marco picked up his father’s legacy, leading the laboratory to become the point of reference for anyone looking not just for a shoe, but the perfect tool to live their passion.
A WORKSHOP AND A UNIQUE PASSION
THE SERIES A CHAMPIONS WORE HIS SHOES
Marco Magrini’s prestige was not linked to a flag, but to the absolute quality of his work. In an era when football boots were still a question of sensitivity and not marketing, the champions of the 70s queued up in his laboratory. In one of his interviews Marco Magrini had said that champions of Juventus and Turin, protagonists of the years of that magical Serie A, like Fabio Capello, Marco Tardelli, Oscar Damiani: athletes who sought technical excellence and who found in their trusted craftsman an equal partner, a man who knew the anatomy of the foot and the dangers of the pitch better than anyone else.
THE SCUDETTO DEL TORO IN 1976
LEATHER IN THE LATEST TRICOLOR GRANATA
The name of Marco Magrini and his scapes remain inevitably intertwined with the years ofTorino’s last championship. It was 1976, and in that football made up of tough clashes and heavy pitches, the shoes were the only real link between the player’s talent and the Comunale grass. While Gigi Radice’s Toro marched towards the title, champions like Renato Zaccarelli and Ciccio Graziani they trusted in his hands. They weren’t looking for a talisman, they were looking for technical perfection: Magrini’s shoe, made of very soft material full upper calf or kangaroo leatherguaranteed that enveloping fit necessary to make the difference in the ninety minutes. Magrini didn’t “cheer”, Magrini built. And he built with such expertise as to make his shoes the prized piece of equipment of those who truly won that tricolor.
THE FINAL FAREWELL TO A LEGEND FOR CHAMPIONS IN RIVOLI
AND FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WHO DREAM OF BECOMING IT
Marco Magrini belonged to that generation of Turin artisans who spoke little and worked a lot. Remaining faithful to the principles of artisanal quality, he knew how to manage every morphological particularity, creating made-to-measure shoes for wide or narrow plants, guaranteeing an after-sales service and repairs that added value to the relationship of trust with customers. Today, when footballers’ footwear is mass-produced and weighs just a few grams, Magrini’s legacy reminds us of a time when football was, first and foremost, a noble profession. A profession that he honored until the end, forever remaining the man who shaped the steps of one of the most glorious eras of Italian football.
Marco Magrini’s funeral will be held on Friday 30 January at 1.30 pm Rivoli in via Cuorgnè, an opportunity to say a final farewell to an artist who in his field has been a legend of Turin football for over 50 years at all levels and at all latitudes, from Champions to young footballers who dream of becoming one.
