The Italian shoe industry association, Anci, has launched an interesting...

The Italian shoe industry association, Anci, has launched an interesting new initiative to promote the “made in Italy” concept among Italian consumers during the Christmas shopping season. In a glamorous framework, a team of shoe shiners will offer its services free of charge in the shopping streets of three Italian cities – Rome, Turin and Milan – starting next Friday, but with a catch: the clients must persuade them that they are wearing shoes made in Italy. Promoted through Facebook and associated with a lottery, the service has been organized by Anci in cooperation with Rosalina Dallago, a former model who has opened an elegant, much-publicized shoe shine parlor on via Lucina in Rome, close to the Italian Parliament. It is called Sciuscià Chic, after a famous old Italian movie.