Dal Co’

Alberto (1902-1963). Italian shoemaker, born in Traversetolo (Parma). He learned the trade when still a young boy. Immediately after World War II, supported by his sister Amabile, the mother of the Fontana sisters, he moved to Rome. He opened a store for custom-made shoes and an adjoining workshop at via Crespi 45. In 1951, he moved to Porta Pinciana. He worked with the great griffes of Italian fashion of those years, such as Schuberth, Fabiani, Lancetti, and Carosa. Together with the Fontana sisters, he started a line of shoes and bags called Fontalcò. Some of the accessories for the trousseau of Maria Pia of Savoy carried this griffe. At that time, shoes were manufactured in close contact with the great ateliers: an important dress was matched by shoes and a bag in the same fabric, often decorated with handmade embroidery. Among his clients were Gina Lollobrigida, Soraya, Ava Gardner, Linda Christian, and Audrey Hepburn. He helped spread the fashion for very high heels and stiletto heels on very refined low-cut shoes. He created leather slippers with a grosgrain cockade for Diana Vreeland. Some of his models are shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Among his historic styles is the Paparazzo shoe, created in 1953. It is a low-cut shoe with a slender heel ending in a thinly-plated washer meant to be used against pushy photographers. Today, the store and workshop are at via Vittoria 65 and the tradition is continued by his daughter Nives and his grand-daughter Silvia.