A Family of Italian Jewelers Has Made a Home in Cairo

In the early 1900s, the center of Cairo was the cultural heart of the city, with an opera house, gardens and elegant hotels such as the Grand Continental and the Shepheard, which catered to royals, aristocrats and the wealthy. It also was home to Bajocchi Jewellers.

And now, 125 years later, Bajocchi is still there, fulfilling customers’ desires and dreams. “We are the oldest jeweler in Egypt and the oldest Italian business still continuously operating in the Middle East,” Pietro Bajocchi, 74, said as he greeted a guest outside the shop on Abdel Khalek Sarwat Street.

The business moved twice over the years, opening this location in 1915. The black marble facade has been in place ever since, and now includes an unusual oval vitrine displaying eight emblems. “We have displayed the crests of the royal families and presidents we served in our long career,” Mr. Bajocchi said, gesturing toward the series that includes the crest of Egypt’s Viceroy, the title held in the 19th century by the country’s Ottoman ruler; the current Republic of Egypt; and the former Imperial State of Iran, as Farah Pahlavi, once its empress, has been a customer.

Mr. Bajocchi — who prefers to be called Pierre, as he studied in French schools and often serves French-speaking customers, several of whom today still call him Monsieur Pierre — is a fifth-generation artisan and the fourth generation of his family to run the business. Once inside the shop, with its crystal chandeliers and vitrines displaying gem-set jewelry, he pointed to a framed timeline with photographs of his ancestors. “The history of my family is the history of modern Egypt,” he said.

The timeline begins with Wenceslao Bajocchi, an engraver and ivory carver in Rome, working for the Papal court in the early 1800s. Later that century, the Egyptian government tried to attract businesses by offering favorable conditions and Wenceslao’s son, Paolo, a goldsmith, arrived in Cairo in 1875 to set up a workshop. Four years later, the country suffered a financial crisis and Paolo returned to Rome, only to come back to Cairo in 1893 when conditions improved.