Savinelli - Pipes with Quality and Italian Elegance

Made in Italy 

The home of Savinelli is a place that fills pipe smokers with dreamy delight. In the heart of Milan's city center, amidst the bustling activity of businesspeople, tourists, and fashion enthusiasts, lies the small shop. Achille Savinelli opened his store for smoking accessories in 1876 on Via Orefici, just a proverbial stone's throw away from the famous cathedral, and to this day, it remains a destination for pipe enthusiasts.

The elegant models combine English style with Italian lightness. However, the sought-after pipes are produced outside the city gates. The company is located in Barasso, Lombardy, where even a street bears the name of Achille Savinelli. To call it a factory would be a slight exaggeration, as it is a medium-sized business with 47 employees. Only part of the production process is automated; much is still done by hand.

The complex consists of administration, an extensive production hall, and a large briarwood storage. Here, an impressive stock is kept, replenished monthly. This ensures production at Savinelli remains secure, even as the precious raw material becomes increasingly scarce. Still, not a bit is wasted, of course.

Digitalization Meets Craftsmanship

Therefore, Savinelli relies on high-tech solutions when it comes to sorting the briar blocks. A camera scans the blocks, and an algorithm assigns them to a category. The results are astonishingly reliable, ensuring minimal wood waste. Manual selection used to lead to significantly more sorting errors, but that is now history.

In other areas too, cutting-edge technology is making its way into a traditional craft. While many steps are still exclusively performed by hand on classic lathes, the drilling of smoke channels in bent pipes, for example, is always done manually—a process unique to Savinelli. Overall, the proportion of handwork is so high that the products are more accurately described as handcrafted than factory-made. However, state-of-the-art CNC machines are used for rough shaping of the pipe bowls. Tablets guide workers through the entire production process, with progress tracked in detail using QR codes displayed on a large monitor.

One special feature at Savinelli is sandblasting. Only the finest woods are selected for this finish, which is applied to unique pieces in the in-house sandblasting booth. Mass production on an industrial scale doesn’t happen here.

Efficient Medium-Sized Business

Savinelli's operations appear perfectly coordinated. This applies not only internally but also to external strategies. Managing director Sonja Rivolta demonstrates foresight with her approach of remaining as independent from external suppliers as possible. In addition to a significant stockpile of briarwood blocks, Savinelli always keeps a large number of pre-shaped pipe bowls in reserve to remain flexible in responding to fluctuations in demand.

The greater Milan area was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, yet it also resulted in full order books. While other businesses struggle to find skilled workers, Savinelli fills open positions quickly. For over a decade, the company has been actively recruiting employees, including four refugees from Ukraine who are now part of the team. Where other manufacturers' production halls often feature an older workforce, Savinelli stands out with a pleasantly diverse age range.

Solid Craftsmanship

Ultimately, it’s skilled employees who are responsible for Savinelli’s excellent reputation. Among the 120,000 pipes (!) leaving the workshop each year, their workmanship is impeccable, as complaints about quality are almost unheard of. Great personnel, perfect organization, and the use of top-quality raw materials undoubtedly pay off.