ROME — Behind the Pantheon, the scissors of nimble- fingered men glide through cloth, and cassocks are sewn with handmade buttons and watered silk.
The men measure sashes, snipping silver, unraveling gold. They are quiet, deliberate, moving amid scents of wood and wool and the crinkle of brown paper packages addressed to priests and cardinals and, perhaps one day soon, a new pope.
The Gammarelli clerical tailors have fitted the spiritual leaders of the Roman Catholic Church since 1798, when Pius VI fancied embroidered sleeves and a fur-bordered cape. They knew the waistline of John XXIII and the inseam of Paul VI. And, as his body stooped over the years, they trimmed a few centimeters from the ivory hemlines of John Paul II's robes.
When white smoke coils from the Sistine Chapel in a few weeks, announcing the church's 265th successor to St. Peter, the Gammarellis will be ready with pincushions and chalk. There's no guarantee they will serve the new pope -- Pius XII opted for his family's tailor -- but if tradition holds, the silver-haired guys in the crooked alley off Via Santa Chiara will remain intimate with Vatican hallways and dressing rooms.
"In this world, nothing is sure," said Filippo Gammarelli, whose great-great-great-grandfather Antonio founded the shop. "We hope the new pope will be our customer."
The Gammarellis are strategic entrepreneurs. They have prepared boxes of cassocks to be sent immediately to the papal apartment. "We always have to do three because we don't know the size of the new pope," Gammarelli said. "Will he be small, medium or large?"
Like the finest barbers, the finest tailors are discreet. They are privy to the secrets of power and the nuance of personality, knowing the cut of a heel, the width of a back. Dressed in cuffed blue pants, a tweed jacket and shoes, polished yet worn, Gammarelli will speak of patterns and fabrics. He will note how the American clergy prefer zippers to buttons and how Velcro has transformed the sash, but he will smile and quietly demur when asked for even a hint of a papal secret.
"Pope John Paul was not a difficult customer," he said. "It was easy to work with him."
An ecclesiastical tailor is bound by tradition. Maybe a blush of purple or green, or a yellow cross, but nothing flashy; the church has designated colors for its offices.
