Assemblea: Testaccio’s Curated Made in Italy Shop

There is a lot happening on Via Alessandro Volta right now.

Recently, it was the re-imagining of the old tavola calda into Taverna Volpetti.

Then last month a new shop popped up a few doors down.

Cheerful Assemblea has a window front that is too whimsical to resist.

“Is that the shop with all the cute fish plates?” another Testaccio-based friend asked when I described it to her.

YUP.

And the plates, like everything else in the store, are all made in Italy.

That might sound like some obvious thing to do – sell items made in Italy IN ITALY.

But it’s not.

It is really hard to track down Italian artisans sometimes. They are spread out and rarely well connected to social media, or selling items directly online.

You have to go to their town and find them.

So the fact that there is now a shop in Testaccio that does just that? Love.

I want to do more to support small-scale producers, to ensure that the items they create on a small scale keep being created. I think linking these artisans to a market is crazy important.

So when I fell for a bag made out of vintage Italian linen and lined with Indian silk…

I snatched it right up.

(Don’t worry. There are more. You can get a handmade bag too).

There are also gorgeous one-of-a-kind ceramics, hand-dyed table clothes, and beautiful cutting boards from Lucca that I have made a mental note to pick up next time.

Assemblea seeks out hard-to-find Italian items vintage-style Valobra soap from Genoa and brings it all together under one roof in the heart of Testaccio.

The items are unique, the shop is lovely, and the staff could not be more welcoming.

Go, browse, and get all your gift buying done in one fell swoop.

I will most certainly be back. Regularly.

Assemblea
Via Alessandro Volta 22 (Testaccio)
+39 06 5747696

Open Monday – Saturday from 10 am to 7:30 pm. (With a brief pause for lunch, but they will be right back). Closed Sunday.

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