1st timer's guide to Rome

I famously have never been to Italy.

I famously have never been to Italy. A designer friend of mine once said this was “the coolest thing about me,” and I should never go. (This is what’s fun about the fashion industry, and the people it attracts, in a nutshell.) I took her advice for some time. But as I was finishing work in the middle of the night in Marseille this week (because I’m working across American time), I thought: Something has to happen to me. So I decided to pop over for the weekend, Frances-Ha style. I booked a room at the Palazzo delle Pietre, because it’s close to the Pantheon, has a private “hammam” shower, and is owned by Carlo Mazzi, who was the president of Prada. (Miuccia-approved, I suppose was my thinking here.) I like a very small hotel, and this one has eight rooms.

I’ve been vaguely planning to “go to Italy” for many, many years, but told myself, among other obfuscations, that I needed the right “American tourist in Rome” outfit: a piece from S/S 2019 Marni. This week, a nerdy/corny/splashy skirt in an extravagant pink arrived. (No dresses available in my size sadly.)

London model Jess Maybury opened the S/S 19 show, then she stared in the campaign, shot by Jamie Hawkesworth (far right). It’s not an exaggeration to say that she single-handedly got me interested in Marni. (When she’s not modeling, Jess makes wonderful quilts.) Btw, Marni runs big, so if you’re an IT 42 in Prada, like me, go for IT 40.

Joe and I articulated some humble goals in advance of our trip: I needed to shop at De Clercq & De Clercq, because Rosa told me to, and have lunch at Al Moro, because that’s where Vanessa Beecroft eats when she goes to Rome. Joe wanted to see a cardinal smoking while texting and visit an old haunt of his, a small takeout restaurant called Pastificio Guerra where they serve two options (“red or green” pasta) in paper containers for $5 a piece. (As you might have guessed, I do all the planning and Joe is used to wonderful things happening to him.)

I asked a few choice friends for recommendations, because I like to have options ready to go in every direction (shopping, eating, site seeing). This is not a definitive guide to Rome. And yet, it should do the trick for anyone passing through. I’ve been using it all weekend (my notes below):

Rosa’s recommendations:

A children’s sweater (?) at De Clercq & De Clercq. The website is not shoppable.

Before Christmas, the critic Rosa Lyster was telling me that—while everyone knows about Schostal and Atelier Bomba—she had found a third candidate for destination artisanal shopping: De Clercq & De Clercq, a shop run by two slightly strange sisters selling clothes “that a handsome male puppet might wear.” (I think Rosa specifically said, “a toy that comes alive at Christmas.”) She said they also have funny slim scarves, the kind worn by old grand Italian men.

My visit to De Clercq & Clercq

The home studio of the sisters Declerq. They say, “We're not ambitious, we're not interested in mass-produced items and we certainly don't 'do fashion.”

Rosa was right that Diane and Evelyne De Clercq’s small boutique is kooky. Think scarves decorated with piano keys. Each sister has a different specialty. “Diane is much heralded for her trademark cashmere striped knits and loom-woven linen and silk scarves; Evelyne produces a limited number of exquisitely tailored shirts and jackets, skirts, dresses, trousers and hand-painted canvas handbags.” Their items sit side-by-side. (“Diane and I have lunch together most days, but we don't actually talk about precisely what we're working on.”) They use good materials (Hebredes tweeds, Irish linen, Egyptian cotton), but it’s their “painstaking attention to details—hand-painted buttons, embroideries, buttonholes stitched in contrasting colours. Different 'signature logos inspired by nature or by whimsy (mermaids, swallows, snails, monkeys, penguins, crabs, chili peppers) are embroidered or sewn onto the outfits” that people keep coming back for. By people, I mean middle-aged women. And now, myself!

My new old lady sweaters by Diane.

The sisters weren’t in the store while I was shopping, but I made sure to get a piece designed by each one. You can find some of their stuff on eBay. This jacket is particularly appealing.

My visit to Atelier Bomba

A Vanessa Beecroft photo of Atelier Bomba designs.

I’ve been hearing about Atelier Bomba for many, many years. But I was blown away by how enchanting it was. I had assumed, for being so famous and popular and serviceable, it was the equivalent of eating at the Odeon, but it was way closer to snagging a table at Eulalie, the Tribeca restaurant helmed by Tina Vaughn: a place where you can feel at every turn the presence and spirit of the owner—sometimes literally, as Tina can hover about. What I mean is, it’s my favorite restaurant in New York. (You can read the Pete Wells review of Eulalie here.)

They tailored it overnight for me, and I picked it up the next day.

Atelier Bomba has a working atelier in the back, which I made use of by happenstance. I tried on a green silk dress, which had an unfinished color and hem. Cristina, the founder of the store, pinned it up, tailoring it on me as I looked in the mirror. I was buying it before I knew what had happened to me. (I also got a very long slinky black dress with spaghetti straps.) Their apron dress, which I swear I’ve seen on Joana Avillez, can be purchased here.

I’ll just say it again: An ENCHANTING experience. The history of Atelier Bomba is really a history of the old New York… there was once an outpost in SoHo.

Noemi Bonazzi’s friends

Famed New York-based set designer Noemi Bonazzi, who was born in Milan (and is the mother of Supreme’s Bruno), set me up with delightful Rome transplants from the art and design world—Tim Moore (check out his book here) and F Taylor Colantonio (first name legally F!)—who shuttled me around Rome last night.

I can recommend the drinks itinerary exactly: We met up at an Alimenti, serving natural wine, then bounced to the infamous Caffe Peru, which they told me has the potential to get flooded with Italian teens (a wonderful scourge), and then their local at 53 piazza farnese (a wine bar attached to this restaurant). We had dinner at Quercia. This wouldn’t be a food recommendation from me, but worth noting (I suppose) that Harry Styles was catercorner to us.

Taylor makes transparent rugs (!) and cable urns, sold through his website.

Restaurant recommendations from Byron Houdayer

Byron—a retired financier who likes the finer things in life—said to try Dal Moro, Rocco, and Due Ladroni. I stuck pretty close to Byron’s recommendations on this trip, because I’ve never seen him in a bad restaurant anywhere in the world. He never errors. (There are people like that.) Dal Moro was old school/excellent, Due Ladroni was new school/excellent. Sorry, not much more to say but you won’t be disappointed.

An unedited guide from an artist liaison in Rome: Dinner, lunch, vintage shopping, special places.

Mercedes car with driver: For transfer from and to the airport, for touring in Rome, please call my friend Tiziano De Santis, owner of a Limousine Service. He will offer you any solution you may need. Mobile +39 329 6604194 OR +39 335 6273538. Office +39 06 6503751.