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The reflection of times glistens inside Il Delfino dry-cleaning shop

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STEFANO FERRIO

Life is more than a novel for the laundry shop opened 21 years ago in San Benedetto del Tronto by two enterprising sisters-in-law. They explain how generations and market trends change, while the trust relationship for building customer loyalty remains unchanged. This includes even the grumpiest, most demanding, and enigmatic customers: all conquered by the service quality

First nameless and then loyal customers, select and somehow grumpy crochet artists, ladies with the fear that cashmere could get ruined in the washing machine. There are all stories that throw the laundry in a time reflection. A reflection of a present in which many, often young people, come to us for the first time asking everything immediately, without being aware of the problems that have to be solved. Therefore, an image of a laundry seen as an observatory of foibles, prejudices, but also of the invisible and unsuspected positive tensions that characterise Italian society at the beginning of this century.

If anyone has some doubts about the power of such a laundry and dry-cleaning shop, Catia Piergallini and Valeria Pettinari will dispel them without any hesitation. These two eco-cleaning artisans have capitalized their familial relationship as sisters-inlaw in opening twentyone years ago, the laundry shop Il Delfino, located at number 4 in Via del Tiziano in the beautiful city of San Benedetto del Tronto, overlooking the Adriatic Riviera delle Palme. Today, after such a long apprenticeship, divided between the counter and the laundry shop, they have all the cards to make credible such an unique perspective on humanity.

In fact, after talking with Catia and Valeria, one understands that their laundry shop works so well like in the past that it sometimes brings to the surface such significant issues that makes regret those who a day before, were blaming others. “We often say that we should write a book about i”, reveals Catia, “and who knows, maybe one day we'll decide to do it? We certainly don't lack material; there's plenty of it, and often it's quite spectacular”. “Look what happened to us recently with the cashmere sweaters, is would deserve a dedicated chapter only for this”, urges her sister-in-law Valeria, who is also her brother's wife, piquing our curiosity for finding out more.

Catia indulges us and begins to tell the story: “One day, one of our loyal customers went to a clothing shop in a large shopping mall, and she heard a lady confessing to the shop owner that its cashmere items were really beautiful, but she wasn’t daring to buy them... No, because she had so many unpleasant surprises after cleaning other fine wool garments, that she didn’t want to repeat the experience."

“At that point”, continues the co-owner of Delfino, “our customer approaches and tells that woman, that she had never seen before in her life, that she knows a laundry where she can safely bring any luxury garment for cleaning”. “Exactly, this lady, without hesitation, despite living far away from here, drives twenty kilometres to bring us her sweaters”, concludes Valeria, “and she is still doing it since then, and thus, by word of mouth, we gained one more customer”.

The actual renowned situation of Il Delfino laundry shop is not surprising at all for those who know which was the path behind reaching such a positive result. “We have actually started everything with a big gamble”, reveals Catia Piergallini. “I came from university studies in economics, while Valeria had chosen cultural heritage, and we were both employed in the large-scale retailing sector. For us, it was too flat and limited a job, so with the energy and recklessness that one can have at 27 years old, when Valeria's aunt decided to give up her laundry, we have decided to start our adventure”.

Yet it’s not a leap of faith, because right from the start, the two entrepreneurial sisters-in-law demonstrate clear ideas choosing water washing alongside dry-cleaning, choosing to use ecological detergents, automated ironing machines, and practicing fair prices adapted to the high-quality service. This is how they manage to handle the entire laundry activity by their own, without the need for labour force. And it is also the main path of how they get to know all mankind that could be the characters of this imaginary book. “Among them are also the holiday-makers, which in summer, in a town like San Benedetto, are really many”, says Catia. “One of them is Mr. Nobody, as we used to call a customer who, at the beginning, didn’t even want to leave us his name, so he suddenly showed-up in the shop, discreet and silent, to drop off or pick up his clothes. Then, over time, he started to open up, tell us his name, explain that he comes from Rome with his wife, and become a friendly presence, having even pleasant discussions”.

“But here at Delfino, it’s a bit of a norm,” continues Valeria, “and it applies to anyone who understands the service quality that we are able to offer. This includes the lady who came by yesterday demanding immediate cleaning of the stains on her silk dress that had been in the closet for who knows how many year – a service that we, due to our professional ethics, could not guarantee given the garment’s delicacy and wearing. She might come back and let us try to clean it. Because only in a laundry shop like ours she will find the right expertise for solving her problem”.

“Yes, here, the customer's repentance is usual somehow”, comments Catia. “As it happened with the seamstress who brings us beautiful crochet items for her clientele. One day, she also loses her temper because she wants to be served immediately, but in an exaggerated way, with insults that force us to ask her to leave the shop.” “A few months later,” says Valeria, “around Christmas time, the lady not only that returned, but also brought us a gift – a crocheted nativity scene as sign of reconciliation. Since then, we became even closer friends”. Il Delfino (the dolphin), a gentle and wise aquatic mammal, is more than just a name for this dry-cleaning shop. In fact, it might be even the title of a future book. •

DETERGO MAGAZINE # MARCH 2025

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