PAST LIVES

A love of all things romantically faded and careworn inspired ALESSANDRO MICHELE to turn a grand Roman apartment into his home, one teeming with centuries of history.

- CHIARA BARZINI

Alessandro Michele looks for a home in every city he visits, entertaining romantic visions for himself, and often following up on them. He has a particular love for faded beauties, run-down places brimming with history and lost grandeurand this is why he has embarked on the quixotic endeavor of renovating one of the most iconic and mysterious buildings in Rome: Palazzo Scapucci.

As a teenager in the early '90s, Alessandro strolled the Eternal City with a solitary, focused look. Bright green hair held up in a mohawk, he was the only punk kid in his neighborhood. Merely standing at the bus stop was an adventure. He attended a conservative high school in the bourgeois and old-fashioned Quartiere Trieste, and nevertheless fell in with a group of anarchist friends before moving on. Rome has always been the backdrop for his adventures, for walks to the center, to Babylonia and Dakota, two longlost avant-garde warehouses that blasted deafening techno and sold refurbished or painted Converse All Stars, Palladium sneakers, as well as Indian silk scarves, heavy metal jewelry, fishnets, and industrial punk clothing. Outsiders from all parts of Rome flocked to these safe havens, gathering to shop, listen to music, and share ideas.