Pustorino

Historic menswear and tailor’s shop at the Quattro Canti, Palermo, Sicily, specializing in typical “Englishman’s fashions.” It was opened more than a century ago by Pietro Putorino. The lettering on the old amaranthine sign is in italics. The coat of arms of the House of Savoy indicates that the shop has furnished the royal family. The original interior has remained intact, including Ducrot furniture, frescoed walls, and the wooden panels designed by Ernesto Basile. In the 1920s and 1930s, the inventor of Futurism, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, asked Pustorino to make him a waistcoat with the outline of his hands drawn at the level of the pockets. This was maybe the only deviation from the rigorously classic ever made by the tailor, whose clients included King George V of England, King Alfonso of Portugal, the Duke of Aosta, the Florios (famous Sicilian entrepreneurs and industrialists), Raimondo Lanza di Trabia, and all of Sicilian aristocracy. Pusterlino’s last descendent, Natale, died in 1996, leaving the shop to a favorite pupil, Gaetano Pizzo.