«Shavers and combs, hands and scissors, everything here is at my command …». If you find yourself in Foggia at number 171 viale Colombo, you will feel like you are listening to the lyrical aria of Gioacchino Rossini’s Figaro factotum. For sixty years at this address of the city there has been a shaving room, “which my father Carlo, known by his patrons as Carletto, opened in 1964 and which in 2008, when he disappeared due to a bad illness, bequeathed with his teachings, “Luana Delle Noci, the only female barber for men in the Foggia area, tells the Gazzetta”. In 2019, she says, “my professional turning point”, when she renames the shop of dear father keeper of the anecdotes of those who used to go to the chattering room, from “Lord Charles” to “El Barbero de Sevilla”.
The name of the shop hides the “secret” of the virtues of the forty-year-old daughter of the master, who accompanied her to the profession on the avenue of her sunset, allowing her to make the first haircut for a man in his shop when she was twenty-six “and I remember that it went pretty well after the many tests on the heads ».
The name of the Delle Noci salon, sought after by customers who come even from outside the province because they are faithful to the fashion defined as «luanesca», brings us back to the land «which is now my second home»: Seville. In the mother city of Rossini’s comic opera barber manipulator, Luana goes several times a year to specialize in one of the ten best academies de peluquerìa. In recognition of his studies in the Andalusian center, there is a shining blade marked by the academy that stands out in one of the “revealing” cabinets of his job. “I believe in training, to keep up with the times you must always improve”. The Sevillian cutting technique with which the barber stands out is iconically represented by a photo of her with mustachioed face at the entrance to the shop. Below this she is in “sweet company” of the idol Elvis Presley. The rock “prophet” accompanies Luana’s working days with her ballads (“‘O my sun is my favorite »), during individual appointments with the client, who entrusts his hair and beard to the skilled manager in what becomes a wellness session. «How is the life of the patrons in my hands at Rossini’s Barber? Nice comparison, let’s say that during the appointment the man relaxes, leaving the problems outside the store. Has anyone ever fallen in love with me? I am professional, this “danger” is not contemplated »replies the scissors artisan, who confesses that« since I opened thirteen years ago until today the gender preconceptions towards me have considerably reduced ».
Beside the red armchair hangs a photo of dad at work. It is a snapshot in black and white that brings back to those salons managed by Italian migrants in the United States, the land of Elvis, who, since 1964, the year the viale Colombo shop was founded, had Larry Geller as his personal hairdresser in to whom he confided his existential torments. Some answers to them the singer with the tuft who graced himself with black shoe grease, got them from karate. The Japanese martial art that the myth of Tupelo learned during his military service in Germany in the Cold War is another element in common with Delle Noci: «I follow Ai-Jutsu, a Japanese discipline that works on psychophysical well-being. I practice this oriental art in Foggia, where there is Kriya Yoga, unique for the martial genre in Puglia ». Using the samurai sword of the Katana, simulating a fight against «our worst opponent, that is ourselves», Luana draws soft and perfect lines in space. Just like in the action of him on the bristle of men. “My technique? Knowing how to use scissors »replies Luana pointing to a pair of shiny shears placed in a display case. “That’s a Kami blade, she comes from Japan, her name refers to spirituality.” In Foggia, inside the barbershop on Viale Colombo, you will find a world.
From Seville to Foggia: «I’m the barber», here is Luana, the only hairdresser for men in the city