The History

Via Frattina probably derives from the name of the Bishop of Amelia, Bartolomeo Frattini, who had paved it, creating his own house at the head. Other sources report that the name derives, like many of neighboring streets, from the geographical description of the place as it was before the paving work. Certainly, before these years, in the ancient Roman maps, a street, that connects the area of Piazza di Spagna with Via del Corso, was drawn.

It has always been site and transition of poets, artists and rulers. Before the French and the Spaniards (as evidenced by the large garden entrance door of the today Embassy of Spain, just nextdoor the Bar) and the "Ingresi", as Belli said to identify foreigners of any kind. Joyce, Kythe resided there, and just a few steps Wolfrang Goethe. They could not miss among the pages of folk Romans tales by Trilussa (who resided in the District) and by Bartolomeo Pinelli, who remember this street as the way in which a young postman's from San Silvestro district, said er Tinea, was elected "the most of Trastevere".

When you enter on Via Frattina you seem to escape from the chaos, all around everything slows down, you feel surrounded by an aura of mystery and history, you almost get the impression to walk off the ground.

The same feeling described by Gabriele D'Annunzio when Andrea Sperelli, star of "Il Piacere", turns on Via Frattina with his carriage. Right here, through the glow of a window, he can see and meet his beloved Elena.

In 1956, the return of old shopkeepers on the postwar period, Bar Frattina opens. In those years the street was frequented by neo-realist painters and filmmakers. Assiduous was the presence of Guttuso and Rossellini. Then, associations and cultural halls, give way to high fashion workshop and exhibitions, among the most popular of the world.

Today, as before, you can easily find writers and celebrities from the showbusiness. The Street and the Bar become a meeting point as well as a necessary step. Antonello Venditti imagined the meeting of the characters of his song just on a bar Frattina's table, between passing people.