Defining “Italian Style”

We just got back from a week in Rome.  What an amazing city.  Hard to define.  Its ancient roots and modern outlook seem to collide at every charming intersection.

A few weeks before we departed, I attended a seminar to hear interior designer Alessandra Branca speak about her beloved Rome and its influence on her work.  Branca has offices in Chicago, New York and Rome, and a family apartment in Rome where she spends several months each year.

Her book, “New Classic Interiors,” published in 2009, gives great examples of her extravagant and glorious rooms which are both world-class and classically Italian.  Since I was traveling to her hometown, I decided to take mental notes about Italian interiors and how to achieve even a hint of the bellissima touch called “the Italian style.”

When I heard her speak, Branca filled the room with her passion about decorating, and described how her beautiful Rome was her inspiration at every turn.  She challenged us to visit the sites that inspire her every time she returns to this magical city.  She even offered to email everyone in the audience a list of her favorite haunts.

 

 

Of course, I couldn’t resist calling and getting her list to add to our agenda.  I’d been to Rome several times, but many of the names on her list were new to me.  And, as we discovered, there is so much more to see in Rome now than in years past.

Branca peppers her book with quick, meaningful little quotes such as “I love details.  I’m obsessed with them.”  And I get that.  Details – accessories – are my downfall.  Sometimes I don’t get to choose them for clients.  I’m often thinking on a bigger scale when selecting furniture and draperies.  But I’ve carefully collected the “details” in my own home.

And details are certainly an Italian state of mind.  Every door handle and piece of trim; every garden and pot we saw at the palazzos had been carefully chosen.  Mosaics, faux trim either marbleized or highlighted with dazzling colors; painted doors and window frames; decorated staircases; every small table and chair in bright gold leaf. It was easy to see that if you  grew up in this atmosphere, Italian style would be part of your DNA.

Branca’s list led us to the Palazzo Barberini, filled with important, ancient statuary.  But what Branca pointed out were the true-divided windows that we now find so charming.  The Italians had the idea first, apparently, because they were taxed on the size of their window panes.  So even the wealthy took advantage of the “muntin” to save some money – and add unexpected warmth to those chilly halls.

The designer also states in her book, “I have no fear of color.”  And to add to that boldness, “Even elaborate patterns become almost neutral when used everywhere.”  I really saw what she meant around every corner.  At the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, outside of Rome, every room was covered with murals – some bright, some muted.  But I don’t think I would have a problem decorating them, because they enclosed you in the coziness and warmth of history.  Only the rare client will fill a room with historical murals, but you can also choose wallcoverings and graphics to evoke the same sense of history and permanence.

In her book, Branca mentions that “stripes are like architectural columns.  They raise your eye.”  Needless to say, we saw our share of columns in Italy.  They are an architectural phenomenon in Rome – starring in everything from the ancient Forum to the local McDonald’s.  At the Villa Farnesina, the wealthy owner had commissioned a mural of columns in his bedroom, adding height and grandeur.

Touring the Pantheon, built by Emperor Hadrian in 126 AD, we’re told that the large circular dome with a conventional temple portico front is “unique” in Roman architecture, yet it became the standard when classical styles were revived.  I often see new homes being built with columns, in a sort of hopeful salute to grandeur.

At the Musei Capitolini they featured an amazing and quite large model of one of Rome’s ancient temples, done in plexiglass!  you could actually get a feel for scale and construction, looking at the miniature stick figures.  But this display defied being photographed.  I remember thinking how brilliant the display was – such an Italian approach to museums – choosing modern materials to demonstrate ancient ingenuity.  Later, at the museum coffee shop, I sat on a traditional style opera chair – done in smokey plex.  Brilliant!

 

Truly the most exciting suggestion on the Branca list of musts was the Centrale Montemartini, or the Montemartini Power Station.

This was where I began to see the Italian style that resonates everywhere.  Some clever individuals on Rome’s city council decided that this abandoned 1912 power plant, in Art Nouveau style, would be the perfect home for an overflow of classical sculptures.  It created an intriguing juxtaposition of massive turbines and engines with ancient marble sculptures housed in huge, colorful rooms.  It was Italian style at its best!  If only we would all feel so free to experiment in our own interiors.  Of course, most of us don’t have 20 foot ceilings with floor- to-ceiling doors and art molding, let alone giant turbines.  But I digress…

Throughout the trip we saw great shop windows done in modern Italian furnishings.

We all know the look.  Sleek, low, sometimes geeky (especially floor lamps).

Our friends in Rome stayed at a very modern hotel housed in a renovated vintage building near the Spanish Steps.

 

 

 

This, too, is Italian style that surprises and pleases and challenges us to say – what IS Italian style??

It’s a style that’s overbearingly obvious and yet elusive at the same time…Certain buzz words come to mind if I’m forced to describe it:  drama, grandeur, edge, boldness, color.  Comfort also works in somehow.  Because that crazy Italian way of expressing everything with fast talk, gestures, and big smiles, comes through in Italian interiors, as well.  Comfort in not caring when centuries clash or when colors might offend.  it’s so Italian!