What Battistoni is known for
Opened in 1946 at 61A Via Condotti by Guglielmo Battistoni, a former Academy of Fine Arts student turned shirtmaker, this Rome atelier became an artists' gathering place from the 1950s — works by Picasso, Modigliani, Guttuso and Cocteau still hang on its walls — and dressed Marlon Brando and Andy Warhol.
Battistoni was founded in 1946 by Guglielmo Battistoni at 61A Via Condotti in Rome, in a courtyard just off the street. Battistoni had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and came to shirtmaking, by his own account, out of both necessity and vocation rather than family trade. He became known for modernizing the men's shirt collar, cutting the points slightly longer and wider than the classical standard of the time. From the 1950s the atelier's courtyard location became a gathering point for artists and writers passing through Rome, and works by Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Renato Guttuso, Roberto Matta and Jean Cocteau still hang on its walls today, left by clients and friends of the house. The client list that built the brand's reputation for discreet luxury included Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, Gianni Agnelli, the Duke of Windsor, Charlie Chaplin, Marc Chagall, John Cassavetes and Andy Warhol. Guglielmo's son, Gianni Battistoni, later led the house; Gianni Battistoni died in 2024, marking a generational close covered in the Italian fashion trade press.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Roman dress shirts and tailoring.
Made in Rome.
More in Rome
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- Braccialini — Rome
- Brioni — Rome
- Buccone (Enoteca) — Rome
Where next
- Steed — London
- Sastrería Trimber — Seville
- J. Michaels Clothiers — Nashville
Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement