Giancarlo Maresca & the Cavalleresco Ordine dei Guardiani delle Nove Porte

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Giancarlo Maresca
Giancarlo Maresca

In this article, we’ll detail a personalized tour of Naples undertaken in 2012 under the guidance of Giancarlo Maresca – the Gran Maestro of the Order of the Nine Knights.

Il Grande Maestro with Cigar & Homburg
Il Grande Maestro with Cigar & Homburg

All over Italy, he is well recognized as an expert in the area of bespoke clothing, style, elegance & la dolce vita. On top of that, he knows the tailor & craftsmen scene in Naples like no other – he even seems to know when a young tailor will be successful before the tailor knows it himself.

During my stay, I ate a superb authentic Neapolitan lunch at his home, but I also got a glimpse into his closet.

Today, I will introduce you a bit more closely to Gincarlo Maresca, give you some highlights from his wardrobe, and provide you with some insight to the Cavaleresco Ordine.

Giancarlo Maresca – Il Gran Maestro

Giancarlo Maresca: An Officer and a Gentleman

Before focusing his energy and passion into the Ordine, Maresca sailed on ships as an officer in the Italian navy for six years. At the same time, he studied philosophy. After he finished his naval career, he attended law school and once he graduated, he practiced law for 16 years in Naples. Although it was his profession, his interest in the job diminished. Eventually he decided to leave law to focus on the Ordine full time and to write about masculinity and how it has changed over time. Many of his essays appeared in the Italian issues of the gentleman’s magazine MONSIEUR, beginning in 2000.

Giancarlo Maresca in Grey Blue Linen Shirt, Small Bow Tie & Blazer
Giancarlo Maresca in Grey Blue Linen Shirt, Small Bow Tie & Blazer

Maresca and the Knightly Order of the Guardians of the Nine Doors

Cavalleresco Ordine dei Guardiani delle Nove Porte translates to mean the “Knightly Order of the Guardians of the Nine Doors.” The name is certainly as elaborate as the concepts the Ordine professes to follow. The core of this organization are, as you would imagine, the Nine Steps: 1. The table, including food & beverages 2. Action in terms of cars, engines & athletics 3. Smoking 4. Bullfighting 5. Women 6. Gambling 7. Dressing 8. Art 9. Unknown pleasures. Pause for reaction…with such a clearly masculine orientation, the idea behind the Ordine was to create a place for men where they could socialize and learn more about the finer things in life.

The idea was sparked in three decades ago, the organization was informally created in the mid 1980’s and founded officially in November 1997. Its goal is to promote good taste (in their definition, of course), aesthetics, and the deeper meaning behind the subject matter at hand, beyond simply possessing them. Essentially, it serves as a kind of club where men who share similar interests can discuss among likeminded peers with a particular passion for artisanal products and quality goods.

Giancarlo Maresca
Giancarlo Maresca

As such, the Ordineorganizes ‘Academies’ in cities across Italy and sometimes even abroad, on a monthly basis. These weekend events evolve around a specific topic, such as chocolate, seafood, shoes, tweed or whiskey, and they typically include elaborate meals, many cigars and interesting conversation.

Toni Rossi & Giancarlo Maresca at Halston
Toni Rossi & Giancarlo Maresca at Halston

Apart from these in-person events, the Ordine also maintains a website, www.noveporte.it where members and visitors (partially) can discuss and share their knowledge, once they have registered. Unfortunately, the site’s layout and graphics are almost as old as the Ordine, but that is a very conscious decision. Rather than updating the administrative system behind it, they want to focus on high quality content. Maresca told me that it is like a cathedral that can never be completed, but at the same time, it is a castle that stands the test of time without any changes. This statement is so very Italian, and at the same time, it’s exactly the kind of elaborate language that Maresca uses.

Personally, I have to disagree with him in this regard, because I believe an updated website would vastly improve the Ordine‘s ability to share great content. Change is not always for the worse and can help spread the word. The internet itself is the best example -but each to his own.

What I really appreciate about the Ordine is the focus on in-person events with the internet being an vehicle to enable live, personal connections. Of course, this requires a lot effort and organization, but it is absolutely worth it.

The Wardrobe of Giancarlo Maresca

The Closet if Giancarlo Maresca
The Closet of Giancarlo Maresca
Silent Butler & Hat Forms
Silent Butler & Hat Forms

The Suits, Coats, and Trousers

If his choice of language and profession is any evidence of his style, I expected to see great things in Maresca’s closet – and I wasn’t disappointed. As a naval officer, Giancarlo Maresca came to own a number of different navy and blue suits and blazers and while most are solid, the texture of the fabrics ranges from fresco and flannel to hopsack, which is always different. Of course, he had a number of  tweeds, solaros and vintage fabrics in his collection. Lately, he has been wearing a extravagant shawl collar dinner jacket in green velvet for black tie events.

Apart from that, Giancarlo owns a number of beautiful off-white suits that are perfect for the hot Neapolitan summers and go well with his numerous straw hats and canvas spectator shoes.

Vintage Fabric, waiting to be tailored
Vintage Fabric, waiting to be tailored

Since he also likes to wear combinations of sports coats and trousers, I found neatly organized trousers in beige, camel, charcoal, light grey, striped morning trousers, red, mid-blue and of course, various shades of brown.

Trousers & Jackets of Giancarlo Maresca
Trousers & Jackets of Giancarlo Maresca

The Vintage Fabric Collection

But there are always more things that could be created, and so he stores a number of vintage fabric lengths in his closet that sparked his interest. For example, at a Scottish cloth Academy hosted by the Ordine, it makes sense that he would pick up fabric at the source for a future piece. Considering that Maresca has all the basics covered, there were a range of very special fabrics in his closet.

First, he had a diamond twill dark and mid brown tweed, a beautiful navy, beige and red gun club fabric, as well as a bold orange/brown windowpane fabric for a sportscoat. He also had a few fine worsteds with pinstripes in mid blue, overcoat tweeds and lovat green fabrics as well. The boldest fabric was probably an orange/light green fabric with a bold 1 inch orange and beige windowpane – I’d love to see that made up one day because Maresca pays a lot of attention to fit as well as the cut and styling of a suit.

The Shirts

His shirts are also special in the sense that they are hand-sewn and feature matching buttons. For example, his grey/blue linen shirt had blue mother of pearl buttons, whereas his white tuxedo shirt features black mother of pearl buttons instead of studs.

Shoes & Clothes Brushes
Shoes & Clothes Brushes

The Shoes

A few of the shoes
A few of the shoes

When it comes to shoes, he seems to have a fair amount of oxfords and derby shoes in a range of colors, but most of them are brown. In addition to a beautiful pair of antique patina wingtip shoes, I like his selection of suede colors which had a short nap ranging from reddish brown over to greenish grey and grey-brown. Of course, he also keeps a fair number of black box-calf leather shoes in his closet.

The Accessories

Ties in Printed Silks
Ties in Printed Silks

In terms of neckwear, Giancarlo Maresca owns a huge tie collection including many vintage and modern pieces. They were are all sorted in drawers, so he could choose club ties, jacquard, printed ties, wool or cashmere ties, knit ties, raw silk ties, etc. Based on what I saw, he has at least 500 ties, but recently he also enjoys wearing the papillion – the bow tie – more and more. Of course, he doesn’t wear the standard stuff you can find at most haberdashers but much rather special shapes in smaller sizes that are all interestingly tied.

Tie Drawers
Tie Drawers
Belts & Other Accessories
Belts & Other Accessories

In regards to hats, I would say he can choose out of at least 50 felt hats – predominantly in a Homburg shape – and a few dozen Panama hats.

Overall, he owns a great wardrobe that would make many men deeply jealous, but I am not so sure that many would trade places with him when he wears a suit outside on a 90-degree-plus day.

I am really glad to have met Giancarlo and his family and friends because they enabled me to have an authentic Neapolitan experience – Grazie Giancarlo!

What do you think of his wardrobe? Do you prefer bigger bow ties?

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Reader Comments

  1. I was intrigued about Mr. Maresca ever since he was mentioned in Permanent Style post couple month back. Thanks for the wonderful article again Raphael.

    By the way, it is interesting that Mr. Maresca, Simon Crompton of Permanent Style, and Raphael all has background in legal profession. Is there some secret sartorial knowledge shared within the legal circle that we average folks don’t know about?

    1. Dear Qwon,
      I am certain it is rather a coincidence than a plot ;). It is true that quite a few members at the Ordine have backgorund in law, medicine, pharmacie but I know plenty of elegant men who do not have a background in law. Apart from that, I am not sure Simon Crompton did actually go to law school, can you double check that?

      1. Yeah I need to correct myself on that. His website states “[Simon’s] career is as a trade journalist, having edited magazines related to finance, banking and the law for the past 10 years.” I just remembered the word “legal” when I read the interview of him GQ-UK awhile and just made an assumption based on that.

  2. Mr. Maresca indeed owns a wonderful wardrobe. His sense of style is also very good. However the extremely small bowtie does not look great at all according to me. The size of the bowtie should be in proportion to the size of the wearer’s face.

    1. This sounds like something you read in a Flusser book. I think he opted for the size because he liked it and it is rare to find one like that in the next best store.

  3. Dear Raphael,
    i love your sincere, dry pen, used to tell what you really saw, more than translate what you would have seen. Thank you for your visit and even more for your article. About ties, in the days you were in Naples I loved bow ties, especially the smallest one, although I don’t know why. A man who dresses by some decades has thousands of ties, of any kind. So I have a lot of french, italian and english bow tie, some of that are custom made. Especially whit the black ones, for dinner jackets, is orriible to handle buckle or other regulation device. At least in special occasions, a gentleman deserves to reward himself whit a unique piece, made for him and without any surprise or regulation. You choose it and wear it . It’s no so rare to find, even in famous stores, bow tie too much long to knot them. The regular sizes varies from 92 to 100 cm at maximum extension (40/45 cm the short side and 50/55 the long one), with 10/12 cm of trimming. A medium neck requires a lenght of 86/90 cm, according whit the thickness of the silk and of the lace. The item you photographed where about 80 cm only, and I use sometime one of 75 cm. Perhaps this is a way to celebrate Totò, the actor who in some film has, as bow tie, a simple shoelace. Smaller the bow tie, bigger his power to irritate people, and you know very well that some time some men appreciate the subtle pleasure to desplease. Congratulation for your blog, the lone I read in a regular manner.
    Giancarlo Maresca

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