Places/museums that have excited you
most (in Italy and/or other countries)
As a child
The Duomo in Siena, Montepulciano,
Pienza, which I visited with my parents
on one of my fi rst trips to Tuscany.
Thanks to them I saw many wonderful
things, in Italy and abroad, particularly
Germany and Austria.
As a boy
Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.
I’m aware how lucky I am to live just a
short way away from a museum where
you can admire many masterpieces of
art from Venice and the Veneto region.
As a grown-up
In Italy, the Peggy Guggenheim Col-
lection (also close to home!) which
Rubelli and my family have supported
for years. This year in fact we created
“Beyond”, a fabric inspired by the mu-
seum’s entrance gate, a splendid work
of art in coloured iron and glass. Part
of the proceeds from this project will
be donated to the Peggy Guggenheim
Collection.
Elsewhere:
Versailles,
Schönbrunn
and, in New York, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the Frick Collec-
tion.
A personal, possibly unusual, memory of
the Venice fl ood in 1966
Seeing, from the house on the Grand
Canal where I lived at that time, wa-
ter going through the windows of the
building opposite. Ironically, a similar
belle, in Italia e all’estero, in particolare
in Germania e in Austria.
Da ragazzo
Le Gallerie dell’Accademia a Venezia.
Consapevole di avere la fortuna di ave-
re a pochi passi da casa un museo in cui
ammirare tanti capolavori dell’arte ve-
neziana e veneta.
Da adulto
In Italia, la Collezione Peggy Gug-
genheim (anch’essa a pochi passi da
casa!) che da anni la Rubelli e la mia fa-
miglia sostengono. Proprio quest’anno
abbiamo creato “Beyond” - un tessuto
ispirato al cancello d’ingresso del mu-
seo, splendida opera d’arte in ferro e ve-
tro colorato - che con parte del ricavato
andrà a sostenere la Collezione Peggy
Guggenheim.
All’estero: Versailles, Schönbrunn e, a
New York, il Metropolitan Museum of
Art e la Frick Collection.
Un ricordo personale, magari curioso,
dell’Acqua Granda del 1966
Vedere, dalla casa sul Canal Grande
in cui allora abitavo, l’acqua che entra-
va dalle fi nestre del palazzo di fronte.
Ironia della sorte, una scena simile si è
quasi ripresentata nel novembre 2019,
“Verso Asolo”,
Teodoro Wolf
Ferrari, 1937
Acqua Alta,
Ca’ Pisani Rubelli,
12.11.2019
scene almost took place in November
2019, when a historic high tide was just
a few centimetres away from the win-
dowsills of our showroom at Ca’ Pisani
Rubelli before starting to go down.
Now, with Mose, we trust that similar
episodes will never be repeated!
A memory of Asolo
A place I’ve always loved and where I’m
always very pleased to go back. Mem-
ories of happy times stand alongside
the terrible one of Good Friday in 1944,
when the city of Treviso was bombed
and from the hills of Asolo you could
see the fl ashes of the bombs and hear
their terrible noise. Those were the
war years and I was living in Villa Duse,
which had been the home of the actress
Eleonora Duse. For two years I studied
in a splendid Veneto villa which had
been turned into a school.
Where did you go on your fi rst overseas
trip with friends?
Britain, when I was 22. First stops Lon-
don and Oxford. Then Edinburgh and
the many Scottish castles.
A strange episode during a trip abroad
This was when I visited friends and cli-
ents of the Wardé family in Lebanon.
War had just ended and the driver who
took us to the Beqaa Valley to visit the
archaeological site of Baalbek had a
gun in the glove compartment! I also
remember the most delicious mezah
and sweets ...
The most meaningful encounter as en-
trepreneur
I would like to remember two entrepre-
neurs in particular, Alberto Falck and
Pietro Marzotto. Sadly both no longer
with us. They were true friends. With
Falck we set up Aidaf (Italian associ-
ation of family-run businesses) while
Marzotto in 2013 helped me a great
deal in organising in Venice the nation-
al congress of Cavalieri del Lavoro.
The music you most identify with
quando un’acqua alta storica ha sfi orato
di pochi centimetri i davanzali delle fi -
nestre nel nostro showroom a Ca’ Pisani
Rubelli prima di iniziare a ritirarsi. Ora,
con il Mose, confi diamo che episodi si-
mili non si ripetano più!
«Those were the war years
and I was living in Villa Duse,
which had been the home
of the actress Eleonora Duse.
For two years I studied
in a splendid Veneto villa
which had been turned
into a school.»
«In Italy, the Peggy
Guggenheim Collection
(also close to home!) which
Rubelli and my family have
supported for years. »
Un ricordo di Asolo
Un luogo che ho sempre amato e in cui
ritorno sempre con grande piacere. Ac-
canto ai ricordi di momenti felici anche
quello terribile del Venerdì Santo del
1944, quando la città di Treviso venne
bombardata e dai Colli Asolani si pote-
vano vedere i bagliori delle bombe e sen-
tirne il terribile rumore. Erano gli anni
della guerra, ed io abitavo a Villa Duse,
in quella che era stata la casa dell’attrice
Eleonora Duse. E per due anni ho studia-
