Italians are known to be full of passion and it’s no doubt the world has been fascinated by Italy’s love stories throughout history – after all, Saint Valentine’s, the patron saint of lovers, was from the bel paese and Romeo & Juliet lived in Verona.
Famous Italian couples have caused controversy, created masterpieces in writing, music, and art, and have captured the hearts of the public with the power of their bonds. We take a spin through some of Italy’s greatest lovers—star crossed, cursed, life-long, and some things in between.
Sandra and Raimondo, 1960
The Funny Ones: Sandra Mondaini and Raimondo Vianello
The King and Queen of Italian television! Their romance was full of humour and they shared their joy with the Italian public through many variety shows they hosted, including ‘Attenti a noi due’, ‘Sandra e Raimondo Show’ and many more. Their bond was so strong that they could not live without one another. After a relationship that spanned fifty years, they died within 5 months of each other. Their happy legacy and their love is celebrated by a generation of Italians.
We hope your Valentine’s day is full of FICHISSIMO humour like Mondaini and Vianello!
The Director and His Muse:
Monica Vitti and Michelangelo Antonioni
Meeting in 1950, Monica Vitti quickly became Michelangelo Antonioni’s muse as well as his partner. When someone touches your life, they make an impact, there is power even in shorter romances. Though their romantic relationship did not last, working together shaped and elevated each of their careers. Monica and Michelangelo’s creative partnership gifted Italian cinema and the world with some of its most important films such as L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse.
We hope your Valentine’s is full of COLTISSIMO inspiration like Vitti and Antonioni!
Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti on the night of her win of the “Tor Margana” Prize, 1964.
The iconic duo, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti.
The Fashionable Duo:
Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti
Partners in both life and business, together Valentino and Giammetti built an empire. They described meeting in the summer of 1960 in Rome on Via Veneto, when the chic 60s and la Dolce Vita were at their peak. For a dozen years they enjoyed a romantic relationship but they had been professional partners for over fifty years. Together they created the Valentino Company, brand and Academy. They shared an extravagant, fashionable, passionate lifestyle and delivered impeccable fashion to the world through their collaborations.
We hope your Valentine’s is full of CHICHISSIMO style like Valentino and Giammetti!
The Great Love:
Carlo Ponti and Sofia Loren
A couple who had a few – challenges shall we say? – getting together, but whose love overcame and lasted. When he fell in love with the beloved actress Sofia, Carlo Ponti obtained an illegitimate divorce from his first wife as divorce was still illegal in Italy. The two married, only to be summoned to court based on the illegitimacy of their union. An annulment, a move to France to obtain a legal divorce and a second wedding put these challenges behind them. And it was meant to be: the two were happily married until Carlo Ponti’s passing. Their love story created a beautiful family, celebrated films and one of the most fairytale houses in Italian history, a Roman Villa on Appia Antica, a gift from Ponti to his beloved.
We hope your Valentine’s is full of BELLISSIMO moments like Loren and Ponti.
Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti.
Caption: Fellini’s Casanova, 1976.
The Italian Lover: Casanova
We would be remiss not to mention the most famous Italian lover! So renowned, so flirtatious, so romantic that he is in a category all on his own, unable to be paired with a single of his lovers! The famed Venetian, Giacomo Casanova, is thought to be the original womanizer but for him, affairs were grand things: full of intrigues, pursuit and gallantry. He rubbed shoulders with Mozart and Voltaire, and gave history one of its best accounts of European life in the 18th Century. And by all accounts, he valued an intellectual match and intelligent women, saying “After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms.”