Tucked away in a small piazza, a stone's throw from the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, is Gammarelli, tailors to the Roman clergy for more than two hundred years. The dynasty started in 1798, during the reign of Pope Pius VI (r. 1775-99), when Giovanni Antonio Gammarelli began work for the church as a master tailor. He was followed in the trade by his son Filippo and his grandson Annibale. It was Annibale who, in 1874, transferred the business to its present premises, part of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. During a conclave, Gammarelli has the honour of providing outfits in three different sizes (small, medium and large) for the prospective pope. Gammarelli claims to be the oldest shop in Rome that is still managed by direct descendants of the founder. Comments are closed.
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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private walking tours of Rome.
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