THE STORY OF THESE ROOMS BEGINS A LONG TIME AGO…
It begins from the walls of the historic building that host them at via dei Mercanti 1. The plaque above the front door reminds us that the building belonged to the Fontanella family and that Marianna, the future Mother of the Angels, was born here in 1661…
The banner at the entrance to Via dei Mercanti tells us that we are in the Contrada dei Guardinfanti (Quarter of the Farthingales), enclosed between Via Barbaroux, Via Stampatori, Via Santa Maria and Via dei Mercanti.
Here the cumbersome bell-shaped frames that were used to maintain the puffy shape of the skirts were once made: the “infant guards”, in fact; initially worn – it is said – to protect the infant carried in the womb, then only for fashion.
Silent and narrow, the streets of the Contrada dei Guardinfanti are custodians of intriguing stories and legends, and mysterious corners. The commercial and artisan tradition – Via Mercanti (Merchant Street) and Via Stampatori (Printer Street) still retain the name of the activities that took place here – is today carried on by charming little shops selling jewellery and antique objects, greengrocers, silversmiths and art galleries.
The modernization works carried out under the Savoy kings starting from the seventeenth century led to the “straightening” of the then Contrada Dora Grossa – the decumanus maximus of the Roman city of Augusta Taurinorum, current Via Garibaldi: the facades of the buildings facing the street were brought into line with the Baroque standards of the time, but the maze of ancient side streets – which escaped those works – retain intact their magical medieval atmosphere and, after the renovation which began in the 1970s, have returned to attracting Turin residents and visitors.
And it is this building in this ancient quarters that my paternal grandfather had chosen as the last location of his studio, in the seventies: a large space made up of the current 2 apartments.
Also my grandfather’s is a long little story, which begins in Sicily, where he was born. In the 1920s, at the age of twenty, he decided to leave the printing house where he worked and undertook the journey to northern Italy; he made his father promise that they would join him in Turin as soon as he settled down. And my great-grandfather promised, even if reluctantly.
Unfortunately for him, his fearless and determined son managed to “settle down”. He arrived in Turin and began working in a customs office; it didn’t take him long to meet a beautiful girl from Turin and marry her. His father couldn’t but reach him, because “a promise you made – like a stone you threw – doesn’t go back “.
My grandfather was still not satisfied: he studied, graduated, and in the 1950s opened an accounting firm.
His son – my father – and later on one of my sisters, would take over his thriving studio and continue its activity in Turin and in a valley in the province of Turin.
I for my part inherited the taste for adventure and travel from that grandfather. Following this inclination, I transformed his studio into two homes that offer refreshment to the Merchants and Travellers who choose to spend a night here.
