Tritapepe

Pasquale Tritapepe (1890-1951). Italian tailor. As a master tailor, he belonged to the great tailoring school of Abruzzo that boasted such names as Domenico Caraceni, Ciro Giuliano, Nicola Amazzalorso, Nazzareno Fonticoli, Costante Zopito, De Fulgentiis, Di Tecco, Ferrari, Camillo Modesti, Luigi Fagnese, Dante D’Indino, Donato Pavone, Tobia Agresti, Vincenzo Di Donato, and Luigi D’Alessandro. He was born in Atri. At the age of twelve he ran away from home and from an authoritarian father, winding up in Rome where he found work in a tailor’s shop. Life was harsh. In order to make ends meet, after work, he would do minor repairs to firemen’s uniforms. At the age of 17, he managed to open his own first tailor’s shop in Porto d’Anzio and later in Rome itself, where he met the chief tailor of Second Royal Piedmontese, a battalion that was much beloved by King Victor Emmanuel III. The chief tailor fell ill and named him as his substitute. And so, deeply idealistic republican though he was, he happened to cut and sew a little, tiny uniform. He understood that it was for “sciaboletta,” the king of Italy. Years later, he told his son Nino, who carried on with strict perfectionism his heritage as a tailor: “I moved me so deeply that I came close to questioning my republican loyalty.” The uniform was so perfect that it made his reputation among the aristocracy. He would have been well advised to sink his roots in Rome. But a love affair led him to leave, going first to Castellammare di Pescara, and then to Pescara, a city where he worked, for a clientele that was largely Roman, until he died. Just before he died, he told his son: “The minute you realize that you don’t know how to practice this profession, go right ahead. Modesty can only help you.”