Sommaire pour March 2016 de Robb Report

MARTINELLI BRINGS THE APPEARANCE OF MEDIEVAL MAIL ARMOR TO HIGHLY STYLIZED PIECES WITH DIAMONDS AND GEMSTONES THAT LEND JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SPARKLE. HEDY MARTINELLI knew exactly what to do with the 13th-century soldier’s armor she uncovered while browsing the Paris flea markets in the late 1970s: She bought it and promptly repurposed its mesh of interwoven metal rings as jewelry. Today the 80-year-old jewelry designer, along with her two daughters, brings the appearance of medieval mail armor to modern, highly stylized pieces with diamonds and gemstones that lend just the right amount of sparkle. “I like jewelry that isn’t too shiny and is discreet enough to wear in the day to the market,” says the Yugoslavian-born Martinelli, who established her business in Rome and Milan in 1975. Each…

LUCA DINI, THE DESIGNER of the Italian-built Kifaru Baby (kifaruyacht.com), describes the open-class 43-foot yacht as “a fighter plane without wings.” Presumably he’s referring to the vessel’s lightweight construction (all aluminum), high performance (45-knot top speed), and streamlined design. This last element is enhanced by several retractable features, including a six-place teak table on the foredeck that’s covered by a sun pad when it’s stowed away. The yacht also features a gangway that expands hydraulically to nearly 4 feet long, and the swim platform is equipped with a full-height shower on a retractable pole. The Baby, priced at $650,000, debuted in September, two months after Cantiere Navale Italia acquired the Kifaru brand.…

THE TASTEMAKERS OF Italy’s fashion capital have a stylish new headquarters. Opened in July, the Mandarin Oriental, Milan, occupies four 18th-century structures that have been transformed into an of-the-moment hotel with mint-hued walls, glossy Carrara-marble floors, and custom furnishings in deep lavender velvet and tawny leather. The local firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel Interiors looked to the city’s midcentury high-society estates when designing the hotel’s courtyard restaurant, where chef Antonio Guida serves dishes such as fig-fed chicken on pearls of fregula pasta, and squid-ink risotto topped with calamari and spicy cardamom sauce. For antipasti and aperitivi, fashionable locals and guests gather at the hotel’s dramatic black-and-white-tiled Mandarin Bar. WHAT: Mandarin Oriental’s first hotel in Italy features 104 rooms and suites, a 9,600-square-foot spa, and two restaurants. WHERE: In the city’s…

NAVAL ENGINEER Valerio Rivellini is the rare yacht designer who has seen his singular concept become reality. Most dream boats never move beyond the drawing board, because they’re too wild or impractical to go into production. But Rivellini and his namesake business, Studio Tecnico Rivellini, are based in Italy (Naples, specifically), where, as the country’s automakers and fashion houses continually demonstrate, extreme designs are embraced as often as they’re dismissed. He’s also a friend of Rosario Mercuri, a co-owner of the Sea Engineering Group, which builds boats under the Blue Ice and Blu Martin brands. “I was on a sailboat two summers ago and was talking to Rosario about how nice it would be to double the space on the boat,” recalls Rivellini. “That was the starting point. We decided…

THIS ALFA ROMEO EXEMPLIFIES TWO MAJOR INFLUENCES OF THE 1930S: ART DECO AND AERODYNAMICS. LET’S BEGIN WITH the formative years of automotive design, and a dilemma I faced while casting my ballot for Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2005. With me in the winner’s circle was Wolfgang Egger, a friend who was then Alfa Romeo’s head of design. As I tried to choose between a sensational Delage and the exquisite 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 designed by Carrozzeria Touring, I asked Egger to tell me what he saw in the two cars, figuring his eye might catch something I had missed. “The Alfa does everything the Delage does,” he said, “but without trying.” His observation underscores what may be the greatest hallmark of the carrozzerias’…

SHORTLY AFTER POST–WORLD WAR II reconstruction began, Italians returned their attention to one of the country’s favorite pastimes: motorsports. As Italy’s economy strengthened in the late 1940s and early ’50s, a number of cities and regions started hosting auto races. The manufacturers and coachbuilders were quick to respond with what became known as dual-purpose cars: vehicles that could be driven to the track, raced, and then driven home. These cars came in all sizes and shapes (coupe, spider, barchetta, and berlinetta) and with various types of engines. Many of today’s most coveted collector cars are dual-purpose models. Two Italian names closely associated with dual-purpose models in the 1950s were Ferrari and the coachbuilder Zagato, which has been in business since 1919. After World War II, Zagato really blossomed, designing race…

ALMOST ALL SAW THEIR 2+2S OUTSELL THEIR TWOSEATERS, OFTEN BY SIGNIFICANT MARGINS. THE LATE SERGIO PININFARINA, who ran his namesake company from 1961 to 2001, once told me that Enzo Ferrari coined the term 2+2, using it to describe two-door fourseaters. In the case of Ferrari and other Italian automakers and carrozzerias, 2+2s offered serious performance and agility and displayed seductive curves or other eye-catching surface treatments. “You must remember that my father was 50 years old when he started his company,” said Piero Ferrari—Enzo’s son and the company’s vice president—to me. “While his name would become famous with our sports cars, he had a very strong affinity for the 2+2s because of their comfort and room.” Enzo wasn’t alone. Almost all of Italy’s sports and GT constructors saw their…

CAPRI, ISCHIA, AND PROCIDA, the trio of beautiful islands in the Bay of Naples, are like surprisingly dissimilar siblings whose explosive father, Mount Vesuvius, watches over them, languidly sending curls of white smoke into the cerulean skies—wispy warnings of an unpredictable temper. If the looming volcano serves as patriarch, however, then the chaotic, big-hearted city of Naples might aptly be cast as la mamma to the islands. This ancient, teeming town situated on one of the world’s most magnificent natural harbors is also one of the world’s great food cities, as revealed by even the most casual of strolls through its narrow lanes redolent of home cooking. Because so many Neapolitans migrated to the United States, hybrid versions of this cooking—along with interpretations of that from Sicily—have become synonymous with…

This resplendent house soon became a symbol of opposition to the family whose backing had enabled Pitti to build it. THE ENGLISH POET John Keats coined a term, “negative capability,” that aptly applies to the peculiarly Italian brand of genius we celebrate from cover to cover in this month’s special issue. This capacity for “being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason” perfectly encapsulates the Italian gift for accepting and embracing contradictory ideas and impulses—and nowhere is this national penchant for paradox more readily apparent than in the competing Italian affinities for hereditary rulers on the one hand and republican governments on the other. From the early days of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance and the Risorgimento, the populace of the peninsula seems to…

EXAMPLES OF FERRARI’S 250 GT series—cars that were designed for the road and for racing—won the Tour de France endurance competition nine consecutive times from 1956 through 1964. The Italian marque is paying homage to that success with the name of the new Ferrari F12tdf (auto.ferrari.com), a limited-edition, track-ready variant of the F12 Berlinetta. The F12tdf is powered by the same naturally aspirated 6.3-liter V-12 engine as the Berlinetta, but the engine has been tuned to produce an additional 39 hp, raising its output to 769 hp. The new model is also 242 pounds lighter than the Berlinetta. The additional power and reduced weight enable it to accelerate from zero to 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and to 120 mph in 7.9 seconds. Ferrari redesigned the Berlinetta’s body to increase…

THE MEDIEVAL HILL town of Nusco is about an hour inland from the Amalfi Coast, but it seems a million miles from that fabulous stretch of touristy beaches. Here, locals make cheese in small family dairies and hunt for wild mushrooms and black truffles in the surrounding woods; and a few years ago, a talented young chef named Antonio Pisaniello earned a Michelin star for the authentic, delicious cuisine served at his tiny restaurant, La Locanda di Bu. Now Pisaniello has opened a cooking school, Cena (cenaschool.com), featuring the characterful cucina of this verdant landscape. Courses are tailored to students, from novice to professional, and last from a day to more than a week. Curricula might include preparing handmade pastas and local vegetable and meat dishes, as well as visiting…

MASSERIA TRAPANÀ was a ruin when Rob Potter-Sanders, an Australian hotelier looking for a project to call his own, acquired it in 2013. After two years of meticulous restoration—which included the discovery of frescoes hidden in the Italian property’s chapel—the 16th-century farmhouse reemerged in October as a stylish Puglian retreat. Nine bedrooms and suites feature stone floors, vaulted ceilings, and towering wrought-iron beds. Six secluded walled gardens—one with an idyllic pietra leccese limestone swimming pool—are planted with hundreds of fruit and nut trees. Trapanà’s greatest delights, however, come from its restaurant, where the authentic cuisine includes such creations as foglie d’ulivo ai carciofi, a dish of hand-cut “olive leaves” of pasta served with shredded purple artichokes. WHAT: A 16th-century Puglian farmhouse turned luxury hotel. WHERE: Spread over 150 acres, near…

THE UNDULATING HILLS of the Val d’Orcia appear a patchwork of purple-tinged vineyards and plots of plowed earth as I climb the road to Pienza. “They call it the ideal city,” says Massimiliano Mondet, a cycling guide for Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco. The hilltop town—a Renaissance utopia commissioned by Pope Pius II—is certainly idyllic, with its stone piazzas and sweeping views of the valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But as I pedal my carbon-fiber Focus bicycle into Pienza, my mission is not a leisurely lunch and sightseeing tour. Rather, I am training with Mondet for L’Eroica, a noncompetitive race that takes place each October in the hills of Chianti. L’Eroica (Italian for “the heroic”) is a 129-mile tour that requires participants to ride vintage bicycles—any model made before 1987…

CLAD ONLY IN a plush terrycloth robe, I rush past Lake Como toward the stone steps of Villa Emilia. I am absurdly underdressed considering the setting, in which manicured gardens stretch from the shore toward the art nouveau palace of the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. As if to call attention to my informal attire, a breeze whips in from the lake, running a shiver down my spine and causing me to pull my fluffy lapel closer. Once inside Villa Emilia, however, I am enveloped by the warmth of Lake Como’s newest and largest wellness sanctuary. The Italian elite have long sought respite from bustling city life on the shores of Lake Como. For more than a century, they have stayed at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, an elegant retreat with 90 rooms…

THE MASERATI GHIBLI IS QUINTESSENTIALLY SLEEK, AND IT JUST SCREAMS SPEED, EVEN WHEN IT’S STANDING STILL. TOURING WAS ONE of several coachbuilders in Italy and elsewhere that tried their hand at fastbacks before World War II. Shortly after the war, the car that grabbed worldwide attention and revolutionized automotive design was the Giovanni Savonuzzi–penned and Pinin Farina–built Cisitalia 202 berlinetta, which debuted in 1947. Berlinetta means “little sedan” in Italian, and the car’s shape looks like that of a two-seat fastback. The Cisitalia has stupendous proportions, with a long hood and a thin, curved roofline leading to a flowing fastback. It also features a hood that is lower than the front fenders. The design’s influence can be seen in the shapes of such classics as the Corvette Sting Ray and…

WE CAN ALL thank Enzo Ferrari’s truculence for the emergence of the mid-engine road car. In late 1961 he had a rancorous falling out with his company’s top managers, so a group of them left and formed Automobili Turismo e Sport, better known as ATS. Among those who departed Ferrari was the chief engineer, Carlo Chiti, who had been pushing Enzo to produce a mid-engine car. In 1963, for ATS, he developed Italy’s first mid-engine road-going gran turismo, the 150 mph 2500 GT. I considered showing an ATS here, but Lamborghini’s Miura, which arrived three years later, was the true breakthrough design that made the auto industry stand up and take notice of the mid-engine configuration. Alfa Romeo’s luscious and considerably rarer 33 Stradale also fits the bill. After ATS…

THE KEY ELEMENTS TO THE BEST DESIGNS FROM THE CARROZZERIAS WERE GRACE AND TIMELESSNESS. THE PAST TWO decades plus have been brutal for Italy’s once-illustrious coachbuilding industry, as many of the companies, including Bertone and Ghia, have shuttered. Italdesign is owned by the Volkswagen Group; Pininfarina belongs to a multinational conglomerate; and the Touring company that operates today in Milan shares only a brand name with the original carrozzeria. As for the cause of the industry’s collapse, Jason Castriota—who started as an intern at Pininfarina and ended up its head of design before taking the same position at Bertone—points to former Fiat designer Chris Bangle’s move to BMW. “When Chris got there he smartly made BMW realize they shouldn’t sell just engineering, but also design,” Castriota said to me. “That…

IN THE 1930s, a jacket made waves in the coastal city of Naples. Vincenzo Attolini deconstructed the traditional English suit jacket, removing its heavy lining and creating softer, more naturally shaped shoulders. He had intended for the design to be comfortable for Neapolitans living in the area’s warm climate, but his clients initially shunned what they considered to be a radical departure from tradition. “My grandfather made the jacket more like a second skin, which was very avant-garde at the time,” explains Massimiliano Attolini, Vincenzo’s grandson, who now runs the menswear brand Cesare Attolini with his brother Giuseppe. That reluctance didn’t last long, however. The tailor’s unstructured style caught on, and by the close of World War II, men young and old, whether working or simply strolling the boardwalk, were…

DAWN CHASED THE waning moon over a ridge and cast a soft light on the slopes of the Borgo Condé Wine Resort in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It was the start of the final day of harvesting the vineyard resort’s 190 acres of grape vines, which struggled to produce fruit during the summer months this year because of a long dry spell. The weather had caused anxious times at the property’s winery, which uses no irrigation in the vineyard. “We have to rely on Mother Nature,” said Borgo Condé’s general manager, Daniel Terranova. “Fortunately, we did finally receive rain.” The forecast for this October day called for rain, which would no longer affect the vines or the Sangiovese they yield but could alter plans for the guests preparing…

IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKING DELIVERY OF THE LUSSO, MCQUEEN AND ADAMS TOOK IT ON A ROAD TRIP FROM LOS ANGELES TO MONTEREY. IN ADDITION TO Formula 1 champions and Le Mans winners, the Ferrari bloodline includes some of the most stunning cars ever built. And as an object of beauty, no model in the marque’s history equals the Lusso. Its flowing shape—created by the Turinese coachbuilder Pininfarina—is elegant and refined and has endured as a truly timeless design. The final model in the 250 series, the Lusso (Italian for “luxury”) was a more spacious variant of the 250 SWB. Ferrari unveiled the prototype at the 1962 Paris Motor Show and produced 351 examples in 1963 and 1964. The body, which was built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti, includes an aluminum hood, trunk panel,…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for an Italian superbike with ludicrous power, look elsewhere. The new Ducati Panigale 959 (ducatiusa.com) offers nobler traits: poise, balance, and maneuverability. Its 157 hp L-twin engine is no slouch, but it integrates harmoniously with the chassis, delivering fierceness along with confidence-inspiring finesse. An evolution of the Panigale 899, the 959 features a slightly larger 955 cc engine and a slipper clutch to smooth out aggressive downshifts. It comes with a full suite of electronics, including traction control, antilock brakes, and engine-braking control. But the $15,000 bike also behaves well with all the systems switched off, showing how a sound mechanical foundation can make sophisticated technology seem superfluous.…

AN ICON OF CINEMA has been immortalized in the new Montegrappa Sophia Loren (montegrappa.com) collection of writing instruments. The pens’ appropriately curvaceous resin barrels bear a floral lace pattern evocative of the lingerie the Italian movie star wore in the acclaimed film Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. The caps are adorned with Loren’s signature, and the nibs of the collection’s fountain pens are engraved with a likeness of her face. Available in silver and rose-gold versions, the implements in the limited-edition series range in price from $1,100 to $13,200.…

LAKE COMO HAS long been the realm of grand hotels with manicured gardens and traditional—if sometimes stuffy—interiors. Breathing new life into the Italian resort area is Villa Làrio, an intimate lakeside retreat with a refreshingly contemporary style. Opened in April in the town of Pognana Lario, the property encompasses just nine suites set within two converted 19th-century patrician villas and their surrounding gardens. Each suite features whitewashed walls, bold furnishings, and floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the region’s shimmering waters and craggy green hills. Guests can also admire the scenery over house-made pasta at Villa Làrio’s restaurant, or explore the lake aboard the hotel’s speedboat. WHAT: A nine-suite lakeside resort with two restaurants and an infinity-edge swimming pool. WHERE: Set along the pristine eastern shores of Lake Como. WHY: Traditional elegance…

EXTREME DESIGN, a naturally aspirated engine, and all-wheel drive have long been the essentials of road cars from the Italian automaker Lamborghini. The new Huracán LP 580-2 has only two of the three. It’s a rear-wheel-drive variant that, according to Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann, “is an opportunity to enlarge [the brand’s] fishing ground.” Winkelmann was speaking at the Huracán LP 580-2’s media launch in December at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit. There the car demonstrated how it may lure enthusiasts who are seeking an even more thrilling driving experience than the higher-powered and higher-priced all-wheel-drive Huracáns offer. Lamborghini will begin deliveries of the LP 580-2 in March. At just under $200,000, it’s the lowest-priced model in the brand’s lineup, but it’s intended for purists, not entry-level Lamborghini owners. The new Huracán…

WEALTHY BRITISH schoolboys of the 18th century commonly spent their gap year (or years in some cases) on the Grand Tour—a long and expensive sojourn through Europe that usually included stops in Florence, Venice, and other Italian cities—to immerse themselves in the culture and come back as better, more sophisticated people. That was the idea, anyway. Regardless of whether they actually savored the artistic and architectural wonders of, say, ancient Rome or frittered away their time the ways that college-age kids can, Grand Tourists wanted to return home with impressive souvenirs from their once-in-a-lifetime trip. “They went on the Grand Tour as a way to continue their educations, at least in theory,” says Eric Zuelow, an associate professor of European history at the University of New England and the author…

BERTONE’S MARC DESCHAMPS ADDED THE RAKED NOSE, GIVING THE CAR A DOSE OF UNPRECEDENTED DRAMA. IN 1968, A year after Alfa Romeo’s 33 Stradale arrived, Bertone ushered in the next big design trend with the sensational Carabo, a one-off based on the 33 Stradale’s mid-engine platform. With the car’s engine located behind the driver’s compartment, Bertone had the freedom to create a sharply raked nose that would slice through the air. The look became known as the Wedge, and its strongest proponents were Nuccio Bertone (the firm’s owner) and his chief stylist, Marcello Gandini. In addition to the Carabo, they created Lancia’s Stratos and Stratos Zero, the one-off Lamborghini Bravo, and the poster car of the 1970s and ’80s, Lamborghini’s outrageous Countach. Other carrozzerias followed the Carabo with their own…

THE PORTUGUESE STUDIO Sá Aranha & Vasconcelos (SA&V) has designed stunning interiors for some of the world’s most impressive yachts, and at first glance this project seems to be one of them. Its decorative elements include high-gloss ebony wood, leather panels, bronze detailing, and ceilings recessed and framed by copper-finished stainless steel. Closer inspection, however, reveals that this well-appointed living environment is not a floating palace, but rather an 8,800-square-foot, four-level home located in the heart of one of China’s most populous cities, Chengdu, within a recently unveiled 30-unit residential development called Luxe Garden. SA&V designed the residence as a model home at Luxe Garden, in collaboration with the Chinese architecture firm Matrix Design. “We wanted to use a very special way to show the space, so we borrowed from…