Rome is wonderful city to walk. The hills are all politely positioned around the City, not rudely…read morein the center as they are in San Francisco. You can walk all day and never run out of cool new places to discover. Aldo's shop in one of those really cool places. We came around a corner one mild spring day and in the narrow storefront I spotted the colourful patterns of specialty Italian paper in the window and paused. Himself laughed and said go ahead, I'll get a dopio at the next cafe. Since the next cafe in Rome is never more than a few steps away I waved and dove into the door.
I have something of a fetish for beautiful paper, bound handmade books, covered decorative boxes and assorted other paper arts. Himself knows this and expected to have time for an espresso. When I saw the inside of the shop I stepped back out and called after him "have two, I am gonna be awhile!"
The interior of Legatoria Aldo Fefé is full of treasures. Of particular note are the traditional European style photo albums. These albums, in assorted sizes, have heavy stock paper suitable for mounting photos, with sheets of glassine interleaved between each heavier page with a tab mount which adds to the binding depth so than when the book is full up of pictures the extra volume doesn't 'spring' the binding and make it act like an over stuffed binder with the outer edges wider than the binding width.
These albums are a increasingly rare beast. Most albums now come with plastic pockets, which are sized for a particular photo size, or are peel and stick, which allow for any size that fits on the page but does terrible things to the photos over time and are not a good archival remedy. Aldo makes them beautifully, with many to choose from, in assorted papers and trims. You can order the size and paper you want from his seriously large selection of papers and get it just how you want it. He also does leather, which is beautiful as well.
I use these albums as travel journals, and have for decades. The depth of the binding and the glassine pages allow me to write, draw, and paste in souvenirs and pictures. I use paper mount corners for most photos, but smaller things like receipts, empty sugar packets with branding, business cards, postcards, tickets and programs can be gluesticked, a handy way to fill the journal while on the road without messy glue needing to dry.
Not interested in photo albums? Well how about regular journals? Or address books, note books, checkbook covers, boxes of all sizes and shapes? Or maybe just the paper to take home and use on your own project or as amazing wrapping paper for special gifts? The selection is fabulous, and what he doesn't have he can make and will have ready in a day or so.
And the prices are, for the quality of his work and materials, embarrassingly low. Which I am grateful for, but still, I always feel a bit guilty!
Please, when in Rome do as the Romans do and stop in and pick up your paper goods at Aldo's. Shops like this are increasingly rare in this day and age, and all of the work is done by the family. The daughter works with him and speaks English, Aldo only a little, but enough to get by with google translate on the phone.
