Patience and dedication to work are fundamental for these people, who have been making handmade wigs for the performing arts since 1874.

The Rocchettis have collaborated with the most important directors in the world, including Rossellini, Visconti, Antonioni, De Sica, Pasolini, Zeffirelli, Fellini, Scorsese, De Palma and many others.

“Magic does not exist in the real world”, explains Manlio Rocchetti, who together with his brother Luigi represents the fourth generation running the atelier. “We are lucky to have a family tradition and long years of experience that enable us to understand what a producer wants and to be able to respond to the hairdresser’s needs, too”.

The route to follow in wig-making starts with measurements: “we physically take the measurements of the actor’s head”. And there is a shelf with the models of the most famous actors of Hollywood.

The route to follow in wig-making starts with measurements: “we physically take the measurements of the actor’s head”. And there is a shelf with the models of the most famous actors of Hollywood. The apprentices, often very young, make toupees by masterfully plaiting hair by hair.
Manlio Rocchetti has also coordinated the Advanced Course in Make up for the Performing Arts at The Academy of Costume and Fashion in Rome. In speaking with him, you discover that the secret of successful make-up is the apparently perfect naturalness of the union between make-up and wig: “a result that is reached only by using countless tactics during the phase of making the wig and during the make-up”.