Rome's Best Dressed List

Milan may be the fashion capital of Italy, but when it comes to your parish priest, mecca is in Rome.  If you find yourself in or around the Pantheon, you'll be amazed by the window shopping.  You can find any number of objects with which to hold your liturgical services, from candlesticks to purple robes fit for a Cardinal.  I've never gone in to price compare, but I have often wondered about these sorts of things.  I mean, what does a Bishop's hat run these days? And, are they available online?

 www.calendarioromano.org

Turns out, these Urban VIII outfitters do more than put cloaks on the backs of poor Franciscan Friars.  It seems that priests the world over covet their collars and count their cotton fibers as coyly as Martha Stewart in a Frette sheet boutique.  My sources reveal that if Martha were a nun, she'd be picking her frocks at Barbiconi's, the Armani of priestwear; located somewhat ironically on via St. Catherine of Siena, a woman who received her own habit from a Dominican tertiary.  Maybe not so ironic when you learn that Catherine was the daughter of a wealthy Sienese garmento.

Every year, dashing young priests pose for calendars which you can find around Rome.  Who knew that they are simply the Kate Moss' of their order, shopping on High Street for the very outfits in which they're shown?  Considering how impressively clothed are our 'men of the cloth', make sure your cloth has the right label attached.