Secrets of Rome. The doll hospital
There is a very particular place in the Eternal City: in the historic centre, in via di Ripetta 29, not far from piazza Navona, there is a shop that seems to come from another dimension. It is called “Restauri Artistici Squatriti”, renamed by the Romans “Hospital of the dolls” but also Shop of terror, due to the presence of hundreds of pieces of ancient porcelain and non-porcelain dolls, which recall those of some “scary” films.
In reality it is a shop where the skilled hands of skilled craftsmen repair, adjust and restore old dolls and other ancient toys with care, to give them new life. The shop is tiny (there are very few square meters available, no more than fifteen) and the toys, heads, limbs, headless bodies, are all piled up, to make an impression.
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But it is not a dangerous place, on the contrary, in truth it is decidedly suggestive to look at, also because it restores dignity to old objects that many of us would surely throw away. But if as a teenager you saw the movie “Killer’s Doll” and were terrified, then this is a place to stay far from.
From the outside, while walking along the street, you immediately notice a showcase containing doll heads and other toy pieces, placed there in bulk waiting to be fixed.
ROME, ITALY: UNDATED: GELSOMINA WORKS ON A LARGE DOLL WHILE SURROUNDED BY TOOLS, AT THE DOLL HOSPITAL IN ROME, ITALY. WITH HUNDREDS OF DECAPITATED DOLLS HEADS STACKED BETWEEN LOOSE LIMBS AND HEADLESS BODIES, THIS DIMLY LIT ROOM LOOKS LIKE A HORROR HOUSE. BUT THE MACABRE STUDIO IS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR DOLLS WHOSE OWNERS HAVE GROWN OLD AND FOR THE CHILDHOOD TOYS THAT ARE IN NEED OF URGENT REPAIR. THE HOSPITAL OF DOLLS, OR OSPEDALE DELLE BAMBOLE AS IT IS KNOWN IN ROME, WAS BUILT BY THE SQUATRITI FAMILY SIXTY YEARS AGO. TODAY THEIR DESCENDANTS, FEDERICO SQUATRITI, 52, AND HIS 82-YEAR-OLD MOTHER GELSOMINA CONTINUE THE FAMILY TRADITION.
The shop is a real workshop for the repair of porcelain objects and antiques in general. Among tools, glues and solvents, bald or split doll heads, with one eye or scratched, pieces of legs, arms and torsos, the craftsmen move with skill: the owner is called Federico Squatriti and works together with his mother Gelsomina. Dolls, puppets, puppets, toy soldiers and many other objects to fix, with love, delicacy and commitment.
The customers are almost always attentive collectors who come from far away to make use of the art of restoration of the Squatriti family handed down from generation to generation since the beginning of the last century.
Like any patient in a real hospital, each doll is discharged with a diagnostic report detailing the repairs it has undergone and advice on how to treat it.
The Doll Hospital is a place that refers to past times, but with the noble mission of giving new life to broken and old objects in a particular atmosphere, almost suspended in time, which is now increasingly difficult to find.
BOOK YOUR WALKING TOUR OF ROME and we’re going to take you to see this incredible shop.
