Yesterday
Biblioteca Monaci’s books report that on
8th of December 1946, day in which the Virgin Birth was
being celebrated, Mr.Renato Gisci, goldsmith
by profession, moved from Via del Leoncino
to number 79 of Via del Babuino,
starting up the shop’s business which dealt principally
with watches, pins, cameos and antique necklaces.
The great taste and sophistication for unique
period pieces were unaffected by Mr. Gisci’s death
when he left the business to his wife Raffaella De Paolis
and their two sons, Diana and Benedetto,
to continue what he had begun.
Shop
Though the shop relocated from Via del Babuino,
the original interior, a doll’s house set in the
heart of Via Vittoria, has remained unchanged:
dark chestnut and brass scutchings, as well as the
shop’s sign (GISCI) in glass and bakelite,
haven’t undergone any transformations from
the very first day they were placed on the front
of the previous entrance in 1952.
With the love and respect for the past
which has distinguished each generation,
the Gisci family has won, over time, the interest
and trust of kings, high clergy, State diplomats,
and that Roman intellectual aristocracy
always in search of rare and stylish objects.
Today
Following the best of traditions, after a period in
which the management of the shop was carried
out solely by Benedetto, on the
27th July 1999 he gave way to his son,
Renato Gisci, last link of this chain.
It is by no chance that he carries the same name of the
ancestor who gave life to a family which maintained,
passing from generation to generation, a passion for its craft.
