Monti Craftsmen and Cafes

The Fountain of the Catechumens stands at the corner of Piazza della Madonna dei Monti, defined by its stark, dark volcanic stone basin and a single central spout. Designed by Giacomo della Porta in fifteen eighty-nine, it replaced an…

The storefront in Monti holds thousands of tiny, colorful glass pieces, each smaller than a grain of rice. These are the tesserae used for micromosaics, a craft that reached its peak in the eighteenth century when Vatican artisans needed a…

The sign for Hang Roma hangs over a narrow doorway in the Rione Monti, marked by a display of leather bags that carry distinct, jagged shapes. Before this became a workshop for leather goods, the space functioned as a humble cellar. The…

Pifebo Vintage Shop is identified by the dense racks of leather jackets and colorful silk scarves visible through the street-level windows on Via dei Serpenti. The shop began as a small collection of high-quality secondhand goods and grew…

Er Baretto occupies a narrow, ochre-washed corner where the steep incline of the street forces pedestrians to lean into the climb. This small osteria functions as a neighborhood anchor, squeezed into a footprint barely large enough for a…

A small, unassuming shop window in Monti displays handmade dresses and tailored skirts, often with a sewing machine visible among the garments. Tina Sondergaard, a Danish designer who moved to Rome decades ago, uses this space as both a…

Pulp Vintage features a bright, canary yellow facade that stands out against the weathered ochre tones typical of the Monti neighborhood. This shop occupies a space once used by traditional Roman tradespeople, but now holds racks of…