The history of Granata Saddlery is a story of craftsmanship handed down from one generation to another which went through three centuries and three family names: Andreotti, Lastrai and Granata.
Founder of this antique tradition was Mr. Mario Andreotti who opened his first workshop in Rome in 1861. In this little studio based in Via di Ripetta, he produced reins and other harnesses for horses and coaches. Soon Mario was supported with the management of the saddlery by his son Vitaliano. Together they began their first partnerships with the military institutions of His Majesty King Vittorio Emanuele II.
At the end of the XIX century, in 1899, born the first son of Mr. Vitaliano: Mario junior, in loving memory of his grandfather who died a couple of months before. The handcraft of leather for civil use went on in the workshop of Via di Ripetta, while the work of saddles and harnesses for military use was moved to the laboratory inside the barrack of Viale delle Milizie, headquarter of the cadet school of the Italian Royal Army.
In 1932 the archeological excavates which brought back to light the ancient Rome temple of Ara Pacis of the IX century B.C., forced all the residents of the area to leave their houses. Among these buildings there was the house and workshop of Via di Ripetta. At the end of World War II a new workshop was activated and in the 1960s a new store was inaugurated in Viale Parioli, entirely managed by Mrs Ester Lastrai, Mario’s wife, while Mr. Andreotti continued following the workshop which was renamed Roman Saddlery.