Finding a 5th Generation Glove Shop In Naples

Like the city's sartorial history, this atelier is something of a secret.

Believe it or not, I spent a full 25 days in Italy without buying anything other than souvenir magnets, a baseball hat, and a pair of leather gloves. The gloves were special, though, and I went out of my way to get them.

When I was in Naples earlier this month, I learned that, besides being known for pizza and football, the city also boasts some of the best tailors in Italy. Originally, I assumed this was because of, er, the other thing Naples is famous for… (Mobsters.) But the roots of “Neopolitan tailoring,” which is a looser, more relaxed version of English tailoring, date back centuries, and Naples was once considered a fashion capital. Today, the city is still home to many expert craftspeople, including Alberto Squillace of Omega, a fifth-generation gloves shop founded by Gennaro Squillace in 1923.

“Everyone thinks of Milan,” he said when we met at Omega’s hard-to-find atelier in Sanità, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, but it’s actually in Naples where a number of the fashions one might buy in Milan are made. According to this Times article on Omega from 2022, there were some 41 glove factories in the city during the rule of Ferdinand II, and “the quality of their products brought acclaim in the luxury world, a fact that few modern Neapolitans know.” Now, there are only a handful left, and Omega is one of them.

Like Naples’ sartorial history, Omega also remains something of a secret. To find the shop, you have to enter a courtyard on Via Stella, walk up a flight of stairs to the right, and knock on a door with the Omega sign on it. Someone will greet you and, before you have time to ask in broken Italian if you’re in the right place, warmly welcome you inside. Alberto likes it this way. “I think it’s important to have a ‘secret’ Naples,” he says. “Other than just pizza.”

A screenshot from Google Maps in case you get lost.

Once inside, you’ll hear the whirring of sewing machines and witness women who’ve worked at the company for years skillfully piece together piles of leather guanti with cigarettes hanging from their mouths. The scene could not be less pretentious, but the gloves themselves are pure luxury. Alberto correctly guessed the size of my hands with a single glance and directed me toward a pair of cashmere-lined ones that cost just 60 Euros. The sign of a good pair, he said, is when they stretch a bit in width but not in length.

Should you desire a pair of custom-fitted gloves, Alberto will take your measurements and send them to you later. Mine fit perfectly, though, so I walked away with the cashmere-lined black ones I first tried on. To pay, Alberto took us into his office, where a portrait of his great-grandfather hung on the wall, as well as a signed portrait of Sophia Loren. (Sold.)

I’m glad we didn’t give up looking for the shop after circling the block a few times. And Alberto seemed glad that we’d been exploring the city and all its nooks and crannies for days. “People just stop over here from Capri,” he said. They have no idea what they’re missing.

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Emilia’s Naples Itinerary

Where to eat, sleep, and explore.