One Swan Still Swimming

Marella Agnelli by René Bouché

"Remember, my dear girl, all one needs to catch a husband may be a bed, but it takes a whole house to keep one."

Countess Volpi to a Recently Wed Marella Agnelli 

With the upcoming release of her memoir, Truman Capote's last surviving "Swan" will be much in the news. The above quote is from an excerpt of the book printed in the September 2014 Vanity Fair. Agnelli evidently took Countess Volpi's advice to heart, creating an assortment of homes around the world in which to "keep" her husband Gianni. [Spoiler Alert: He still strayed]. One of those homes was the Agnelli ancestral home in the mountains above Turin, Villar Perosa. 

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A Profile of Villar Perosa in "European Decoration: Creative Contemporary Interiors"

The villa dates from the early 1700s, and Agnelli was judicious about making changes to a home that had been in the Agnelli family for over one hundred years. She did, however, create several new guest rooms and updated other parts of the home, including the sitting room that is pictured in the above photo. She found inspiration for her remodel from antique textiles stored in the Villar Perosa cellar. 

Her upcoming memoir, Marella Agnelli, The Last Swan, is not her first book. She wrote two books on gardening, and has been featured in numerous others, including The Beautiful People's Beauty Book.

"The Beautiful People's Beauty Book"

"Gardens of the Italian Villas"

Image Credit:  European Decoration, Creative Contemporary Interiors