Giuliano Gramigna was a writer, poet and literary critic, known in particular for his long collaboration with a prominent Italian newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera. Franco Bompieri tells how he became a customer of Antica Barbieria Colla:
Text taken from Presi per i capelli by Franco Bompieri (Mondadori 2000)
« “He was so beautiful that it looked like he had just come out of Colla’s hot towels’”.
This quote in the novel Marcel Ritrovato by Giuliano Gramigna, in addition to flattering me, filled me with curiosity towards the author; so one day I called him at the office and using all the courtesy possible I invited him to come in person to see if the hot towels were up to his novel.
After a few weeks Gramigna appeared on the doorstep of the shop. I recognized him immediately, also because there was always a picture of him on the title page of his books.
After a professional shave, I let him try the hot towels. Gramigna lightly caressed his face and said: “Never has a quote been more focused” ».