Antica Barbieria Colla
Dino Colla achieved extraordinary success in the 1920s in front of La Scala and his lotions are still a quality brand today.
Giacomo Puccini loved to come here to touch up his beautiful moustache while his latest masterpieces were being performed at the Teatro alla Scala. The Antica Barbieria Colla, founded in 1904 by Dino Colla, arrived in front of La Scala in 1919 and achieved unstoppable fame, the result of his unquestionable talent and extremely favorable location, which lasted until the trauma of 1943, with the bombings that tore the square apart. But already on April 1, 1944, the shop reopened, in the location where it is still located today. Dino’s famous creations include his “candle shade” and his first shampoos made with flakes of Marseille soap, bitter almond oil, egg, rum, and salt. Guido Mantovanini, Dino Colla’s worker, was made the sole heir of the shop, which he managed from 1949, raising a talented worker, Franco Bompieri, who still runs the business today, together with his daughter Francesca and Mrs. Lalla Pedroni. The secret to their success, which has been handed down for over a hundred years, is to continue a tradition of hand-cutting with scissors, lotions, shaving soaps, and brushes handled by high-quality craftsmen who are children of art and have not lost that magical touch that characterizes true barbers.