Artebano

Artebano, aka Franco Maccaferri, Italian pipe maker, passed away on July 24th, 2008.

La bottega Artebano (Artebano's workshop) took it's name from the previous proprietor. It was homed in Via Mentana, a short and narrow road in the historic city center of Bologna.

Here Franco Maccaferri made his freehands, which were almost entirely bought by pipesters from Bologna and it's surroundings. Outside, in the rest of Italy, Artebano Pipes remained hardly known - a local insider tip. The workshop was a regular meeting place for a circle of pipe smokers on every Saturday afternoon gathering there to chat and to discuss on pipes and tobaccos.

Franco Maccaferri closed his bottega around the turn of 2005/2006 for health reasons (afak).

If you have any pictures or more information about his pipes, please contribute them here, or send them to us.

Molte grazie, Scott (--sethile 13:22, 1 August 2008 (CDT))