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La Vagnola,Giancarlo Giammetti's villa near Sienna, Tuscany.

Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino Garavani’s busuiness and life partner, purchased La Vagnola, an 18th-century Tuscan villa in Cetona, in 1986 and enlisted the maestro of atmosphere Renzo Mongiardino to create enchanted interiors inspired by the surrounding lush, classical gardens. For twenty-five years he and Valentino vacationed here to escape the pressures of Rome and their international jet set lifestyle. Portions of the property date back to the 16th-century but is was in 1750, on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Antonietta Vagnoli, that the  nobleman Salustio Terrosi started building the villa. Giammetti put the villa on the market with Sotheby’s in 2010.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

The interiors at La Vagnola are the unmistakeable work of Mongiardino. Every surface bears his signature of intricate hand-painted decoration and Byzantine-inspired patterns on walls, floors and ceilings. The striking entry hall is washed in inky light indigo to compliment the delicate frescoes of the ceiling’s decoration, which is grounded by a neutral marble and terra-cottta patterned tiled floor. I am particularly fond of the wall-mounted photophore, far left.

Photo by Oberto Gili

Photo by Oberto Gili

The design and decoration of La Vagnola was based on these early 19th-century Austrian and German watercolors of period interiors which, according to Mongiardino, are oddly reminiscent of decor found in Tuscan houses during the 17th-century. They were hung in the garden room and provide a key to understanding much of the inspiration, design and color schemes selected for many of the villa’s rooms.

The main drawing room in La Vagnola, the Tuscan villa Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti shared. Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Fiorenzo Cattaneo.

Giancarlo Giammetti kept some of the furniture that came with the purchase of the villa, which included Empire pieces seen throughout. The sienna, ocher and green color scheme and the checked fabric on the sofas and curtains by Valentino are in traditional Italian country house-style — albeit a rather elaborate setting for country living. Such is the life of kings of a fashion dynasty! The Chinese wooden figurines once adorned the Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The paintings flanking the fireplace in the main drawing room, above, are from the school of Zurbarian. Mid-19th-century Italian marble vases line the mantel.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Giammetti’s dog at the time, Olivia, a King Charles spaniel, is resting on an Empire settee that belonged to Princess Mathilde, Napoleon’s niece. Above hangs a 19th-century portrait.

Photo by Fiorenzo Cattaneo.

Photo by Fiorenzo Cattaneo.

A view of the drawing room opposite the fireplace wall: trompe l’oeil columns were added to existing early 19th-century hand-painted wallpaper by Renzo Mongiardino to mimic the real columns. The collection of crystal in the foreground is antique Baccarat.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The designs for the walls and ceilings of a vestibule leading to the dining room were inspired by rooms in Florence’s Palazzo Pitti. The floor design was created from terra-cotta and marble. The tiered corner cupboards and the fringed light fixture are Mongiardino original designs.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The reading room opens into the library. The green and white ceramic stove, c. 1790, is purely decorative.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Cabinets in the library were modeled after a historic Venetian design and hold 2,100 rare books that Giammetti miraculously returned to the villa, missing since the 1960’s.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Mongiardino’s ornate designs for the ceiling and walls of a sitting room were created in his studio then applied on site. An arrangement of furniture upholstered in richly patterned needlepoint and simple rattan chairs creates a cozy, eclectic environment.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

A more recent view from the sitting room toward the reading room and library beyond when the villa was photographed in 2010.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

When Giammetti purchased La Vagnola Mongiardino insisted that a large room must be built to project the house into the gardens. “Without it, the house will never work” commented Giammetti of Mongiardino. In an early photo of the light-filled garden room, above, walls of Bohemian glass envelop the space. Simple red-and-white checked fabric covers two wing chairs. One of a pair of the polychromed Chinese figurines originally found a home here in this room.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

A close-up view of a vignette in the garden room features 18th-century Chinese-style figurines sitting under Meissen vases holding lilacs. The set of wicker armchairs is 19th-century English, and one of two wing chairs, on right, is upholstered with a floral fabric on the inside. The whole feels quite Victorian.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

A recent photo of the passage connecting two sides of the garden room with a center hall table is framed out by four sets of four columns wrapped in trompe l’oeil vines with porcelain jardinieres set between them. Not a surface untouched or free of ornament!

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

A vintage photo of the passage connecting the two garden rooms features a masculine Empire center hall table and large scale objet d’art.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

The garden room as it appeared in 2010 reveals an arrangement of commodious English-style slip-covered furniture in one all-over pattern.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

The billiard room with its allegorical painted ceiling.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The design of the spare all-white kitchen was given to one of Giammetti’s friends, Tommaso Ziffer, a young decorator at the time.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The “Sophia Loren” guest room was so named in honor of the room’s inaugural guest, richly appointed in Old World style with a lacy ceiling designed by Mongiardino. The tea-stained effect of the cotton for the walls, drapes and carpet is a pleasant, warm contrast to the cool blue and white of the ceiling and Chinese export porcelains.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Another more current view of the “Sophia Loren” guest room shows the addition of an upholstered sofa with a medallion design.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Giammetti’s bedroom features its original sky-blue ceiling painted with Classical borders, a 19th-century sleigh bed with a vintage canopy, and a 19th-century needlepoint rug. I rather like this Old World way of arranging a bedroom, with the bed along the wall as opposed to perpendicular to it. It opens it up and allows the room to be more lived in and used to read, write … or Pinterest!

Photo by Obeto Gili.

Photo by Obeto Gili.

Giammetti’s framed collection of Victorian plaster seals hung in a corner of his bedroom in a photo taken in the 1980’s.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Giammetti commented that the curtained closets in his richly appointed Empire-style dressing room  were created for convenience. “I don’t waste much time thinking about clothes” he remarked. The daybed in 19th-century Swedish; the round table and walls and ceiling are Mongiardino designs.

LA VAGNOLA HOUSE & GARDENS

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

La Vagnola borders one side of a piazza in the village of Cetona, accessed by iron gates through an ancient archway.  The villa, tucked behind chestnut trees on a fifty-acre estate, looks onto a predominantly green garden dotted with boxwood in earthenware pots. Paolo Peyrone, a pupil of the English landscape designer Russell Page, assisted with the design of the landscaping around the house, referred to as the park. Giammetti initially wanted an English-style garden, full of color. But Peyrone suggested “Let’s get a bit of green first, and then we’ll decide what flowers to have” remembered Giammetti. When it was completed Giammetti understood that the best color in a garden, especially in Tuscany, is green.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The 18th-century stable, as it was photographed in the 1980’s, became an orangery with an upstairs exercise room. A recent photo of the orangery is featured at the beginning of this post, now entirely covered in creeper.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Peyrone created an outdoor garden room with walls of hedge, antique statues and a lily pond.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The view away from the orangery through a pair of obelisks flanking the entrance to the formal garden of box hedges.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

The pool pavilion, “La Turkerie” so named for its Orientalist interior – and the terraced pool and garden devised by Peyrone.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

Photo by Oberto Gili.

La Turkerie is a magnificent frescoed pavilion that stands in the middle of the garden near the pool, built by the Terrosi-Vagnoli family in 1837 in honor of a visiting pasha.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

Photo by Isidoro Genovese.

A  photo taken in 2010 of the small pool, formal gardens and the orangery beyond.

Our tour of Tuscany will take us to the late artist Teddy Millington-Drake’s country house designed by John Stefanidis in the 1970’s – an early example of Tuscan farmhouse-style adopted by expats seeking holiday refuge in the Tuscan region.

Content for this post was provided for by an article written by Charles Maclean, Tuscan Pastoral, for HG magazine, September, 1989, with photos by Oberto Gili. Additional photo by Gili from Renzo Mongiardino: Renaissance Master of Style. Photos taken by Fiorenzo Cattaneo from Roomscapes: The Decorative Architecture of Renzo Mongiardino.  Photos taken by Isidoro Genovese are from an article for The Wall Street Journal on the sale of La Vagnola by Sotheby’s in 2010.

4 Responses to Home Away From Rome

  1. October 16, 2013 at 10:41 am

    Cris… A lovely post… my favorite rooms the library and that kitchen!

    In beauty,
    Victoria

  2. Cristopher
    October 18, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    Thank you dear Victoria! Yes, I envision us in both rooms reading, creating, conversing – and dining on your wonderful culinary specialties!

  3. Judith
    October 27, 2013 at 7:10 am

    A feast for my eyes. Absolutely fabulous. I have just discovered your blog from Pinterest. A most delicious read to enjoy along with Sunday breakfast and Mimosa’s. Actually I could be busy for the next month enjoying ” The Art of The Room”!

  4. Cristopher
    December 2, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    Judith,
    Thank you for your thoughtful comment! It brings me great satisfaction to know others like yourself are enjoying my posts. I regret that I only now discovered this in my SPAM folder – my apologies for the very late reply.
    Here’s to mimosas and lazy Sunday mornings – happy holidays!
    Warmest,
    CW