To be measured properly
Twenty minutes, twice, with the drawer of steel sizers rather than a paper strip. We write the number on a card and keep a copy, so the next piece needs no guessing at all.
See what you could try on
Write, call, or push the door
Someone at the bench answers this, usually within a day
Sizing questions, a photograph of something broken, or a size you cannot find on the page — all of it comes to the same inbox, and there is nobody between you and the person holding the file.
Tell us what you need
The more concrete the better. «A 4 mm band for a 62, to wear with a wedding ring» gets a useful answer. «Information about rings» gets a reply asking for the first one.
What happens next: we read it the same working day, answer within one, and if the answer needs the piece in front of us we say so rather than guess. Nothing you send here is used for anything else, and we do not have a newsletter.
Finding us in Arezzo
Via del Gorgo 11, 52100 Arezzo. The door is the narrow one between the ironmonger and the bar, with a brass plate at hand height and no window display — everything worth seeing is on the bench behind it.
Eight minutes uphill from the station, four from the Piazza Grande. The nearest parking is the Pietri car park; the hill between it and us is steeper than it looks on a map, so allow ten minutes.
Tuesday to Saturday · 9.30—18.00 · closed 13.00—14.30
+39 0575 41 22 08 · bottega@tolmei-orafi.it
Closed the first two weeks of August, as is everything else here
Before you make the trip
A sizing takes twenty minutes and needs no appointment. A commission conversation takes an hour and does — we would rather give you the hour properly than squeeze it between two repairs.
If you are coming for a specific piece, write first and we will have it out of the drawer in your size, or the nearest two. Four of the twelve are usually at the assay office on any given week.
Sizing — no appointment, twenty minutes
Commission — by appointment, about an hour
Repair drop-off — any opening hour, quoted in 48 hours
Asked often enough to answer here
If your question is not one of these, the form above is quicker than reading further.
Can you post me a ring sizer?
Yes, free, anywhere in the EU, usually in the same afternoon's post. It is a paper strip with a sliding tab, accurate to half a size if you follow the two lines of instruction on it. Ask for two if you are buying for someone else and want to measure them without saying why.
Do you make commissions, and what do they cost?
About forty a year, which is as many as two benches can take without the shop suffering. A plain commission starts around €900 in 18k and six weeks; remaking inherited metal starts at €450 plus whatever gold has to be added. You see a drawing and a price before anything is cut, and a 30% deposit holds the slot.
Can I send a piece for repair from outside Italy?
From anywhere in the EU, yes — send a photograph first, we quote in 48 hours, then we email you a pre-paid insured label. From outside the EU it is rarely worth it: the customs paperwork on gold costs more than most repairs and the parcel can sit for three weeks. We will tell you honestly which side of that line you are on.
Do you buy old gold?
We take it in part exchange against something we make, at the refiner's price on the day with nothing taken off the top — you see the same screen we do. We do not buy gold for cash, because that is a different trade with a different licence and we are not good at it.
Is there a wheelchair-accessible way in?
The street door has one 14 cm step and a 78 cm opening, which is honest rather than good. We keep a portable ramp behind the counter — ring the bell or call and somebody comes out in under a minute. The bench room itself is level and there is space to turn.
Three reasons people come up the hill
All three are free, and none of them ends with anyone being sold anything.
To see the Nodo in three sizes
52, 54 and 58 live on the bench in 18k. Putting the three on in a row answers the width question in about ninety seconds, which no photograph has ever managed.
Read the Nodo in full
To hand over something broken
Drop it in during any opening hour. You get a written quote in 48 hours and a photograph of the job before it goes back in the post or back in your hand.
What the bench charges
Or just start with the shop
Twelve pieces, every weight and size on the page, and a sold-out one with a date on it. If something there raises a question, the form above is five fields long.
€245 to €1,980 · eleven in stock, one back 14 March
Rings 44—68 · chains 40, 45, 50 and 60 cm
Insured delivery from €9, free over €450