Can anyone comment on the fit of these particular shoes. Thanks. I wear a size 8D in most shoes (Alden, AE). Do these Santoni fit on the narrow side? wide? Any comments would be appreciated.
I tried on a pair of Santonis today, and from the signature inside the shoe you have pictured, I'm guessing I tried on the same "line" as you, though definitely a different last. IMO, from my experience with this one shoe Santoni runs at least 1/2 size smaller than Alden, and arguably closer to 1 full size. I found the width comparable to Alden, however. I tried on a Santoni captoe. In Alden's captoe from Brooks Brothers, I wear a 10. The Santoni I tried on was an 11 1/2 -- I almost fit into it. An 11 would have fit, IMO. A 10 1/2 would have been close, but probably too tight.
I tried on a pair of Santonis today, and from the signature inside the shoe you have pictured, I'm guessing I tried on the same "line" as you, though definitely a different last. IMO, from my experience with this one shoe Santoni runs at least 1/2 size smaller than Alden, and arguably closer to 1 full size. I found the width comparable to Alden, however. I tried on a Santoni captoe. In Alden's captoe from Brooks Brothers, I wear a 10. The Santoni I tried on was an 11 1/2 -- I almost fit into it. An 11 would have fit, IMO. A 10 1/2 would have been close, but probably too tight.
I've tried on that shoe and a couple of other of Santoni's midrange Goodyear-welted models (the Blake: and the Neville: ), and I ended up buying the Neville. All three seemed to be on the same last, although I'm not sure. The most unfortunate fit characteristic of all three was that the toe box was low enough to rest on top of my big toes. This went away after a while with the Neville boots as the insole became contoured to my foot. They're not noticeably narrow, and they're not noticeably small: I take a 10 D in these shoes as I do in most American-sized shoes, including Alden and Allen-Edmonds.
My experience with Santoni has be a mixture of the two gentlemen above. I found the toebox to close and the sizing off nearly a full size. I also found them to be a touch more narrow than my Alden or A-E shoes - and as my feet are a touch wide.... no go. I've found sizing to be the major issue - especially across Santoni lines, with the handgrades being both a full size short (my normal US size is 10D and the best fit I ever got with Santoni was an 11D, but the toebox was still too close for comfort). I've just decided they are beautiful shoes that I will never own. YMMV
I have a pair similar to what you are looking at, but in the "fatte a mano" line: In this last, I take one half size larger than my other "fatte a mano" Santonis because this shoe's toebox narrows very quickly.
I bought these shoes, slightly used on eBay and found they are at least 1/2 size too small, more likely a full size. They are marked an 11, which I wear in US. Anyway, I will sell them eventually , but if anyone on the forum is interested please contact me. Rob