Word: gammarellis
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...receive from Pope John their red hats, symbolic of their elevation to the College of Cardinals. Besides their rank and faith, the new cardinals had something else in common: the same tailor. Every stitch of their elaborate garments, from scarlet silk stockings to matching skullcap, came from Bonaventura Gammarelli, 61, the most prestigious name in the Roman Catholic cloak and soutane trade. From his small shop in the shadow of Rome's ancient Pantheon, Gammarelli sends out the robes and capes to Catholic clergy the world over; New York's Cardinal Spellman is a regular customer...
...Gammarelli family has been sewing for the Catholic clergy ever since Bonaventura's great-great-grandfather opened a shop in Rome in 1798 to make outfits for Rome's many priests. Gammarelli still likes to serve curates as well as princes of the church, is just as pleased over selling a cassock at $40 as a cardinal's attire for $2,000. It is only good business, since many of his customers get ahead. "Over 70% of the cardinals we now serve," he says, "started coming to us when they were only monsignori...
...papal order threw a sudden and heavy burden on the overworked tailors at Gammarelli Bros., the Vatican's semiofficial outfitters. Already swamped with orders from some of the new cardinals, the Gammarellis now had extra work from old customers. Cardinals living in Rome began dropping in at their little shop on Via Santa Chiara to order trains cut in half and fantails eliminated from their cassocks...
Unhappiest man in Rome the day the list came out was Signor Gammarelli, the thin, clear-eyed tailor who has the arduous task of supplying cardinals with all the paraphernalia of a prince of the church. Even in the best of times a cardinal's wardrobe costs about $4,000, from his moire silk skullcap to his red silk socks and red morocco, silver-buckled shoes. Since one complete costume (a cardinal usually has a half-dozen or more) takes up to 30 yards of material, and Italy's weavers are still short of supplies, Gammarelli feared there...