Carla Fendis living room evokes the heroic, neoclassical forms popular in Italy during the 30s.
Contemporary marble tables hold Carlas collection of ancient Roman statuary.
Dynasty of Style, photographed by Oberto Gili, was originally published in the April 1986 issue of Vogue.
Carla Fendi’s living room evokes the heroic, neoclassical forms popular in Italy during the ’30s. Key art works by early twentieth-century Italians include a 1914 bronze by Libero Andreotti, a 1937 painting of armor-clad men by Guglielmo Ianni, and a 1934 “Baptism” by Alberto Ziveri. Contemporary marble tables hold Carla’s collection of ancient Roman statuary.
The Fendi sistersone of Italys most famous fashion familiesshare a special love for Rome.
Here, a look at the homes of three of the sisters, all women of high style.
For the eat-in kitchen (above, left), Carla specified cabinets with outsize hardware.
Carla Fendi (below, near left, sitting under a Ziveri painting) chose mostly ’thirties Italian furnishings and artworks to complement the sleek spaces of her house. By sheer luck, she was able to find—and to buy for her library—a massive, Deco-style mahogany-and-rosewood secretary-breakfront (left, top) by Piacentini, the architect who designed her house. For the eat-in kitchen (above, left), Carla specified cabinets with outsize hardware. An all-white bedroom (above, right) is crisply accented with black stencils. The dining room (below) features a Venetian glass centerpiece and Carlo Socrate’s “Reflection of a Violin.” 1930. In the living room (below, far left), Andreotti sculptures flank a view of the grounds.
An all-white bedroom (above, right) is crisply accented with black stencils.
The dining room (below) features a Venetian glass centerpiece and Carlo Socrates Reflection of a Violin.
In the living room (below, far left), Andreotti sculptures flank a view of the grounds.
As the youngest of the Fendi sisters, Alda (left, in her music room) considers herself something of an expert on family images, which led her to collect nineteenth-century family portraits like the one over her piano. Her comfortably sumptuous living room (above) contains, among other things, upholstered wicker armchairs, an Austrian pedestal table, and antique silver tureens. A small sitting room (right) juxtaposes numerous intricate patterns, including leafy wall paintings that illusionistically convert the room into an arbor. The busts are neoclassical terra-cottas by Giustiani.
Her living spaces reflect her love for discipline and order.
Carlas decorator was Cesare Rovatti, a former design assistant to the late filmmaker Luchino Visconti.
Rovatti has designed interiors for all the Fendi sisters; for Carla, he created a thirties atmosphere.
Anna Fendi (opposite page, bottom) lives in an eighteenth-century house that once served as the hunting pavilion for the princely Barberini family. It is in an area of Rome that was once considered “country” but is now an exclusive, almost central part of the city. Her grandiose, typically Roman entrance hall (below) features an antique bust of a Roman emperor as well as faux-marbre doors that open onto the formal dining room (above). In the family dining room (below, near left), stuffed birds look down on the table. Anna’s daughters kiddingly call one area of the house the Hallway of the False Ancestors (left) because it contains portraits of the Barberini family–pictures that came with the house.
She and her husband collect Roman paintings of the 1930s, which harmonize with their house.
The busts are neoclassical terra-cottas by Giustiani.
Aldaalong with her eldest sister, Paolais the fur specialist of the family.
The result is an extravagant succession of rooms, each redolent with the sensation of vivid splendor.
In the family dining room (below, near left), stuffed birds look down on the table.
Her specialties are ready-to-wear and leather accessories.
Friends asked how she would be able to afford to furnish it.
She replied that she was buying old furnitureby which she meant antiques at affordable prices.
Today, she lives surrounded by antiques, souvenirs acquired on many trips, and family photographs.
Resistant to change, she will not consider removing a single object from any of her rooms.
