it
Culture /
Lifestyle
Jan 21
reading time 3 min

The 5: Who we are Obsessed with This Month

by ITALY SEGRETA TEAM

JANUARY

A breakfast tray with pancakes, syrup, jam, coffee on a rumpled white-sheeted hotel bed; visible hotel logos in soft light. A breakfast tray with pancakes, syrup, and berries sits on a white bed; Hotel d’Inghilterra Roma logo appears on the right.
 

FELLINI

 

The anniversary of his birth falls in this very month, on January 20, 1920 the father of the Dolcevita was born in Rimini. The cities featured in his films are characters on their own, seemingly with their own lines to interpret. He was perfectly able to juggle melancholy and parody, between surrealism and comedy. Felliniano, a word defined in the Italian dictionary, a term that recalls atmospheres, characters and dreamlike situations that bring to mind those of the Master.

 

“Felliniano… I always dreamed of being an adjective when I grew up”

 

Fellini’s Rimini

 

MARELLA

 

First a woman, then an icon. The first to capture her beauty was Richard Avedon.  Wife of “L’Avvocato”, (Gianni Agnelli) she found a graceful way to decline the role of “First Lady” of the Agnelli empire. In perpetual search for beauty, she kept works by Canova, Manet, Matisse and Modigliani. The world changed and flowed quickly as she remained true to herself, without bowing to fashions or popular customs.

 

Meet the reserved, cultured, elegant
Marella

Marella and Gianni Agnelli arriving at Truman Capote's Black and White Ball in the Grand Ballroom at the Plaza Hotel in New York City

 

MAMME (MOTHERS)

 

“Il figlio muto lo capisce la mamma” (“Only a mother can understand her mute child”). This proverb that perfectly explains a mother’s innate ability to understand what we have in mind or what worries us. They have a repertoire of spontaneous right words at the right time… They teach, chat, cook and are always right. Never challenge them, and know that their instincts are better. Our mothers, le mamme Italiane who always make sure we are well fed and overdressed, are the best in the world!

 

An Ode To Italian Mothers

 

CY TWOMBLY

 

I went to Rome in the fifties, which was a whole other world from what it is now. It’s not the same city. In a sense, the life is totally different. It had more space, you could see it and you could enjoy it….when I went I was in paradise. ~ Cy Twombly

 

One of the most appreciated artists of the 20th century, he made Italy into his second home. Looking for his roots, he found inspiration and the history he craved. While living between his 17th century palazzo in Via Monserrato, Rome, and the seaside Villa di Gaeta of Nicola Roscio, Twombly painted some of his best work. 

 

The Mediterranean painter

 

PIERO PORTALUPPI

 

Architect, urban planner and academic. He lived the vibrant Milan during the 1920s characterized by intense design activity. Portaluppi simultaneously brought forward irony and skepticism towards modernity and urbanism in his architectural feats. Inclined to satire that translated into sketches. Strolling through today’s Milan we can catch his contribution, 56 years completely dedicated to the city, in breathtaking symbolic places such as Villa Necchi Campiglio and the Pinacoteca di Brera.

 

Portaluppi’s Milan

Elegant restaurant interior with blue walls, vintage mirrors, posters, white-tableclothed tables, and a bar visible through an open doorway. Elegant restaurant with blue walls, gold mirrors, red chairs, white tablecloths; posters and logos visible. Stylish adjoining room.