Great Pen Stores - Stores of Note - Rome - Roma
Roma, Italia
Novelli; Via di San Marcello, 21/22 ; 00187 Roma, Italy
Tel: ++39.06-679-2852, Fax: ++39.06-679-3123
If calling from USA: Tel: 011.39.06.67.92.852; Fax: 011.39.06.67.93.123
E-Mail Marco Parascenzo | Novelli Web Site
There is lots to see in Rome, but for a pen enthusiast take a trip to Novelli -- a great pen store choked full of pens. The store is located off the main street ,Via del Corso, just up from the Piazza Venezia and very near the Piazza S. Apostoli. But looking on a map, Piazza Venezia will be clearly marked.
My first visit to the store was in 1997 and I enjoyed meeting with Marco's father, Augusto Parascenzo. He showed his large collection of current, limited editions and vintage pens with great pride -- and so he should. We talked pens and enjoyed a great lunch at a nearby restaurant. His wife, Giusy, has been trained by pen companies on the repair of pens and can assist with adjustments to pens. The store has been in operation for the past 35 years.
When I returned, some three years later I was saddened to find that Augusto had passed away. His family is carrying on the business and I enjoyed my visits with his son Marco and daughter Sabrina. I have visited the store almost annually since 2001. Marco and Sabrina run a great shop, the always have a bottle of ink ready so that you can try the nib... a point on which far too many pen stores fall short.
Marco is now married, it is always great to visit with his wife Rafella and their daughter Guilia.
At left: Marc and Glenn, Novelli Visit 2010
As I look back over the many years that I have visited and shopped at Novelli, I have concluded that many of my best pens have been purchased at this store.
My Waterman L'Etoile, Montegrappa Extra, Stipula Etruria, Omas Paragon in Saffron Blue, Omas Bologna Line Burkina, the new Omas Paragon, Arte Italiana Arco Celluloid and Montegrappa Extra Green Marble are all from Novelli. Many of these have become part of my Pens of Note. In 2007, after visiting the OMAS factory, I just knew an OMAS pen was in order.
Novelli carries a good range of pen nibs and he enjoys his relationship with his customers. Pick up a pen, and a bottle of ink is brought out, your pen is dipped and you can try it out. There are so many stores that have watched me hold a pen and never bring out the ink to let me write with it. This, after all, is what the pen is all about.
Novelli is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm and from 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm. Saturday is is open from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm. The store is closed for the month of August.
Easy to find:
Our our regular walks about Rome, I always take in a visit to Novelli Pen. Luckily if walking from the Trevi Fountain towards the Pantheon or Piazza Navona, it is right on the way!
From the Via del Corso which runs up from the Monument Vittorio Emanuelle II the store is located about three blocks up. Turn right on the small street (very small), Via Dell 'Umilta; first block in turn right again you are on via di San Marcello. After visiting Novelli you are only three blocks from the Trevi Fountain, three or four blocks from the Pantheon. We always make it a Trevi Fountain, Novelli Pen, Pantheon and Piazza Navona walk!
From the Trevi Fountain, on your way to walk towards the Pantheon or Piazza Novana: I always leave the Trevi fountain on the via delle Muratte. It is a pedestrian only street you can't miss is as it is the street that has the brown sign to point the way to the Piazza Navona or Pantheon. At the second left I turn on the Via di Santa Maria in Via. Keep walking down the street. You will walk through a beutiful galleria, an arcade and enter out into the via San Marcello. I have noted the two routes in red on the map below.
Below is a live link to Google Map that will allow you to expand and explore the area. Click on the "Peg Guy" and you can see actual video of the street and can walk it from your computer!
Stilograph Corsani
via Ottaviano 79
Roma, Italia Web Site
When I was in Rome in 2007 I was able to get over to the Stilograph Corsani - a good pen store in Rome. I was last in the store back in 2000.
It remains a one of my "great pen stores" and is definitely worth a visit had been told that this was a great pen store with a good stock of pens.
I met with Stefano, his grandfather started the store back in 1924 and it has been family run ever since.
Located on Via Ottaviano, not far from St. Peter's Square, it began as a book and stationery store. Following World War II, Mario De Leo, the son of the founder dedicated the store to pens.
The store carries a good selection of all pen lines as well as limited editions. The prices looked good also. The store is easy to get to by using the Metro Linea A, Ottaviano-S. Pietro station.
Stilo Fetti
Via egli Orfani, 82
Roma, Italy
This is probably the oldest pen shop in Italy, having been established in 1893. It has been owned and operated by the Felli family since then. On my September 2001 visit to Rome I went to the store. Great place! Located just off the Pantheon on the walk towards the Spanish Steps (take north east street leaving the Pantheon. On my 2010 visit to Rome I wanted to visit the store again, but it was a Monday and the store was closed.
You walk into the store and there are two large pen cases/counters... along the ways just about every inch has pens. There were two great large ink wells on the counters that I offered to buy! No luck! In the back room is a full selection of Mont Blanc pens as well as a range of brief cases and other desk accessories.
Although the staff only speak Italian you will have no problem in the store. The staff were very friendly. Worth a visit!
Rinaldi
Via Victoria Veneto, 86
Roma, Italy
e-Mail
On my 2010 visit I met with owner Corrado Rinaldi. He explained that the nature of their business has changed and they no longer carry the wider range of pen brands, but rather concentrate on Montblanc, Cartier and Dunhill pens along with the associated items produced by those companies.
It is a beautiful store, but pen lines are limited to above.
Burchi & De Sanctis
Via Frattina, 124
Roma, Italy
Tel: +39.06.678930 and +39.06.6792631
Fax: +39.06.6990857
I have had a number of readers write me about Burchi & De Sanctis in Rome and I was pleased to visit their store again on a visit to Rome in 2007. On this visit I had an opportunity to speak with Carlo Cristiano.
This is a long term company, with Burchi & De Sanctis being in business since 1914. You will find this a well established store that specializes in pens, briefcases and other leather accessories.
I have always found this shop to be stylish with a full range of pens and accessories. The store also carries a very good assortment of leather accessories. In fact, I still have the pen case that I purchased on my very first visit to the store. The staff were very friendly and they made me feel at home.
The store is easy to find. It is located on via Frattina, just down from the Spanish Steps. Via Frattina has fashionable shops and an interesting street to walk... so you won't be dragging your partner down an uninteresting street while you proclaim "I know there is a pen store just ahead...".
Comments on the store that I have received from others are also very positive. The store is open Monday to Saturday, from 10:00 in the morning until 7:30 in the evening.
Vertecchi
via della Croce, 70
Roma, Italy
Tel: 06-3322-82219
I did not get a chance to vist this store, located a few blocks from the Spanish Steps. But I am told there are actually two stores, side by side. One store is a stationery store with school supplies for children, and then adjacent store has a wide variety of fountain pens.
Cipriani
Piazza
Barberini, 7
Roma
Throughout Rome there are Tabac shops that will all have a couple of very nice pens in their windows. I have typically not listed these are pens stores as their selection is usually limited to one or two pens. This one, on my recent trip to Rome (September 2010) my wife Karen spotted and called me over. I remember looking in the window but then deciding not to explore further and we moved on. Well, I guess I should have spent a little more time looking around. Like many tabacs it is a very small shop, room for one or two people at the most. I got back, checked and read my e-mail only to be told by another pen enthusiast that he visited the tabac and found four or five cases of Visconti pens, Montblanc, Aurora and others all available.
