Exclusive Holiday Retreat: Villa San Paolo in Italy

Villa San Paolo is an exquisite Italian residence, converted from a 17th century farmhouse. Located in a scenic landscape, with views over the castle of Sorbello in Tuscany and the castle of Reschio in Umbria, this rental villa is a perfect getaway for those in search of elegant luxury.

The place inspires beauty inside and out, due to a well kept traditional architecture, combined with a tasteful design. No compromises were made when decorating this stunning Italian villa, which exudes comfort throughout.

Renting Sao Paolo Villa will cost you from €2628 to 3857 per night, but this steamy price grants access to the spacious house, as well as to an independent but attached guest cottage and a detached pool house with a guest suite. Some other features of the house include an alarm system, alfresco dining, breakfast bar, barbecue area, a fireplace, a fountain and a swimming pool overlooking the Reschio estate.


Original Eden Hotel in Bormio, Italy

Studio Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners completed the Eden Hotel, opened in February 2012 in Bormio, Italy. The project consists of a series of buildings, characterized by height and narrowness, creating an original visual effect.

The units which make up the hotel are individually covered in wood and feature roof shingles, which adds extra originality to their design. Here is some further information from the architects: “Considering the plan, the aggregation of several units made it possible to distribute the space with exterior two-entrance staircases, thus exploiting the interval between buildings and making transversal crossings more animated. The building technology aims at maximizing the passive heat exchange of buildings through the use of super-insulating packages around the perimeters, through the climate mitigation capability of the loggias in the windows and the top performance glass-panels.”

The interior design blends traditional elements with all the comfort of modern living, creating a welcoming environment for mountain enthusiasts worldwide. To top it all, floor-to-ceiling windows ensure unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape.


Italy unveils Ferrari Inspired High-Speed Train

Italy’s first private high-speed train, launched by Ferrari head Luca di Montezemolo’s company NTV and boasting sleek interiors and a cinema carriage, made its inaugural journey on Friday.

The dark-red 656 foot bullet-shaped train — named “Italo” — set out from Rome’s Termini station, taking just over an hour to reach Naples.

“Italo has arrived, the competition has kicked off… bringing real advantages to all those who travel,” NTV told its first passengers as they admired interiors styled by celebrated design house Italdesign Giugiaro.

The trains have gold edging, panoramic windows, leather seats and wider carriages than the classic French TGV trains. They offer three different coach classes and travel at a top speed of 224 miles per hour.

France’s national rail company SNCF owns a 20-percent stake in NTV, which is led by a group of Italian businessmen including Montezemolo, NTV’s president, and Diego Della Valle, the head of luxury shoemaker Tod’s.

The company hopes to take a bite out of the national state rail network’s market and gain an advantage with a pricing system where passengers can get cut-price tickets by booking early or travelling at off-peak times.


Francis Ford Coppola opens new hotel in southern Italy

Filmmaker (and winemaker) Francis Ford Coppola has gone back to his roots with the opening of his new hotel in southern Italy.

The Godfather filmmaker has opened the luxury hotel, called Palazzo Margherita, in the small town of Bernalda. The town has a historical meaning for Coppola, as it is the birthplace of his grandfather, Agostino.

The a 19th-century Italian villa has been renovated and its interiors redesigned by Jacques Grange. Highlights include hand-painted fresco ceilings in Baroque style, furniture designed by Grange and marble flooring. The result is a beautiful and captivating experience, lush with ‘old world’ elegance.

The hotel has only nine bedrooms and suites, making for an intimate setting. In keeping with Coppola’s film background, the salon is turned into a private screening room in the evenings where more than 300 Italian films (from Coppola’s personal collection) are available to watch.

The hotel is part of Coppola’s growing real estate empire. It is his sixth hotel – the first in Europe. He also has hotels in Belize, Argentina, Guatemala and the United States.

www.palazzomargherita.com

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Louis Vuitton Rome Etoile Maison

On 29th January 2012, the Louis Vuitton Rome Etoile Maison opened its doors to the public, on the famous San Lorenzo in Lucina Square, in iconic Etoile cinema. This is the first time that Louis Vuitton has opened a Maison in one of Europe’s most important cultural cities. Below is a tour of the new Maison:

And here’s the Louis Vuitton Rome Etoile Maison Opening Event:


New flagship Louis Vuitton store has its own movie theater

Louis Vuitton has reached back into Italy’s rich cinema history and meshed it with their forays into music videos and short films.

The luxury fashion brand has opened its new flagship store in Rome within Etoile, the city’s first cinema. The new location celebrates the history of Italian cinema. It includes a library and 19-seat screening room.

The Etoile was built in 1907. The Louis Vuitton Maison Etoile Rome store fills three floors in a Baroque-style interior and has a staircase that resembles a film strip.

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Illy Temporary Shop in Milan, Italy

A temporary shop for the famous coffee brand Illy was recently created in Milan, Italy, by designer Caterina Tiazzoldi. The unusual shop invites customers in an unconventional white cube, having a 45x45cm-squared base, where they can enjoy coffee, as well as other products developed by the brand, “exhibited” in an unconventional manner.

Illy shop in Milan was developed using no less than 200 small reconfigurable cubes, that allowed the designer to create the perfect space for each of the brand’s products. This cubes were also the basis for building the table, desk counter, storage systems, and even the recycling bins.

The color palette is simple: the cubes are all finished in white in order to contrast and emphasize on the products displayed. The only element that breaks the pattern is a list of  colorful words, painted on one of the interior walls.  The overall design creates a  unique space, that plays with perceptions: “The system engenders from the walls and the ceiling, creating a disoriented expansion. The differentiated space dimensions appears to become one, transforming it into a game where user’s sight shifts from an object to another discovering the inside”- explained designer Caterina Tiazzoldi.

Photography by: Luca Campigotto and Federico Rizzo


Hotel Residence in Amalfi, Italy

Situated near the beach in Amalfi, Hotel Residence – Amalfi is close to Cathedral of Amalfi, Amalfi Beach, and Ancient Arsenals of the Amalfi Republic. Also nearby are Municipal Museum of Amalfi and Paper Mill Museum.

The hotel is situated right in the heart of Amalfi and rooms have either a sea view or overlook the road leading to “Piazza Duomo”. The hotel is 15 metres away from the beach and 50 metres from the Cathedral.

Due to its central location guests really get a feel for local life in this small seaside town. The hotel is furnished with antiques and offers all modern facilities in order to make your stay as perfect as possible. Breakfast is served on the terrace and you can relax here with an aperetif before dinner surrounded by colouful geraniums and bourgainville whilst watching the sun set.


Lost Leonardo Da Vinci sparks battle


Powered by Guardian.co.ukThis article titled “Lost Leonardo Da Vinci battle scene sparks row between art historians” was written by Tom Kington in Rome, for The Guardian on Monday 5th December 2011 20.08 UTC

A 35-year hunt for a lost masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci now reaching its hi-tech climax in Florence is facing a backlash from more than 100 art historians on both sides of the Atlantic who have signed a petition seeking to stop the work that could uncover it.

The row centres on a wall in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio bearing a 16th century fresco which, according to researcher Maurizio Seracini, conceals another wall on which Da Vinci started painting The Battle of Anghiari, a monumental battle scene considered by some his finest work.

Seracini, who works at the University of California, San Diego, and is featured in Dan Brown’s mystery The Da Vinci Code, inserted tiny cameras through drilled holes in the main wall a week ago and found a 2cm cavity. Traces of an organic pigment were located on the back wall, convincing some that the Da Vinci masterpiece exists. With full results expected in the new year, Florence’s mayor, Matteo Renzi claimed: “We are finally there – after five centuries we are able finally to resolve this mystery.”

But 150 art historians from museums including the New York Met and the National Gallery in London have signed a petition to stop the work, angry at the holes being drilled in the wall which bears its own fresco, Giorgio Vasari’s The Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana, painted in 1563.

“Seracini just doesn’t know his art history,” said Tomaso Montanari, the Italian art history professor who started the petition. Backing the experts, the Italian heritage group Italia Nostra has complained to Florence magistrates, who have opened an investigation.

“This is a wasted expense when we need every penny for restoring the art we have,” said Italia Nostra president Alessandra Mottola Molfino. “Instead of restoring the Vasari fresco we are drilling holes in it.”

Da Vinci started work in 1504 on his battle scene using an experimental oil paint technique that failed miserably, dripping before it dried and prompting him to abandon the work.

Scenes he completed were however widely copied, including by Rubens, whose drawing of one scene hangs in the Louvre.

After 1555 the room was renovated and Da Vinci’s half-finished painting was lost.

Seracini’s suspicions that Vasari was loth to destroy Da Vinci’s work, preferring to brick it up and add his own fresco, were stoked when he found Vasari had painted a soldier in his fresco holding a flag on which was written: “He who seeks, finds.”

Using a radar he revealed the cavity behind the fresco.

But Montanari is not convinced. “Vasari knew how to remove works by other people while keeping them intact. What sense would there have been sealing up the Da Vinci unless you get into childish Dan Brown logic?”

Montanari launched the petition last week after Cecilia Frosinone, an expert from a Florence art restoration institute working with Seracini, resigned on “ethical” grounds after permission was given by Italy’s culture minister to drill seven holes in the Vasari fresco.

“We don’t have external controls on the work any more and that is what we want restored,” he said.

On Monday Seracini fought back, describing the petition as a bid “by the excluded to block extraordinary research”, adding: “This demagogic attack risks Italy being derided around the world.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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PPR acquires Italy’s Brioni

The Paris based PPR, with the luxury portfolio of Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Boucheron, has added a new brand to their impressive collection. PPR has signed an agreement to acquire Brioni, one of the world’s most famous men’s tailoring houses and the symbol of classical and timeless Italian elegance. The transaction should be finalized at the beginning of 2012.

François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of PPR, told us: “Brioni boasts top quality craftsmanship and is synonymous with Italian masculine elegance. It is the reference in ready-to-wear and bespoke menswear and I am delighted that it is joining our magnificent portfolio of luxury brands. We have great ambitions for this fashion house. We will give it access to our expertise and know-how, so that it can write a new page in its history while continuing to preserve its identity.”

Francesco Pesci, CEO of Brioni, added “Joining PPR group is a great opportunity for Brioni as we will benefit from the group’s power. It is the ideal partner to lead our company towards a new stage in its development while enabling it to preserve its unique know-how and remain faithful to its values of timeless elegance and refinement.”

Founded in 1945 by Nazareno Fonticoli and Gaetano Saviani, innovation is a core part of Brioni’s identity: it was the first fashion house to organize a fashion show for men and to introduce a touch of color into men’s wardrobes. Its range covers all categories of men’s attire as well as fragrances, accessories and leather goods. Brioni offers in custom-wear based on a tradition of “made in Italy” craftsmanship that is carefully preserved in its sartorial workshops, the largest of which is located in Penne in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

http://www.brioni.com/