Douglas Dean Directs an All-Female Hamlet

  I‘m headed into Trastevere to talk with director Douglas Dean about his newest theater production of Hamlet. I cross the Tiber and head towards the statue of poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, who surveys the piazza in his top hat and coat, gripping his cane maybe a bit too tightly. There is a slight irony […]

Harry Winston

People will stare. Make it worth their while. – Harry Winston Harry Winston clearly had an eye for precious stones from a very young age; in a way, his career as a jeweler began when he was 12 years old. The year is 1908 and Jacob Winston asks his son Harry to run an errand […]

Valentine’s Day with Antonella Salvucci

      It’s Valentines Day and I am meeting Antonella Salvucci at Zanzara, a trendy bar near the Vatican. We are standing outside when Keanu Reeves walks past us and gets into the passenger side of a vintage Fiat 500. I look at Antonella and she exclaims, “This is Rome!” Antonella Salvucci’s interest in […]

Tiffany & Co and Elsa Peretti:

“Jewelry is not fashion. It has to last, not be discarded as soon as something else comes along.” Elsa Peretti, world class jewelry designer, has been with Tiffany & Co more than 40 years. At 76 years of age, her life has been an epic adventure. She ran in the same circles of art giants such as Dali, […]

Dicò

  From artists following The Grand Tour, to Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, the Bernini marbles, and Caravaggio masterpieces, art in Rome has a long and enduring history. Today, the typical tourist itinerary takes in the wealth of classical art the Eternal City has to offer. Cast your net a little further however, and you’ll discover […]

Francesco Cinquemani:

  This June, as the summer blockbuster season begins, Francesco Cinquemani’s action thriller, Andron: The Black Labyrinth will be arriving at theaters in America. The cast includes notable figures such as Alec Baldwin, Skin (singer of Skunk Anansie), and Clara Pasieka who recently appeared in David Cronenberg’s film, Maps to the Stars. Whenever I think […]

Puntopelle

“We are the Ferrari of leather jackets.” Soon after I enter the Puntopelle showroom, it becomes clear that Sefa Sezgin and Tiziana Perso are very proud of the unique business they’ve created. Originally I had assumed I would be interviewing the owners of a clothing store that sells high-end leather jackets, but that’s not really […]

The Hermès Carré:

A single, surprisingly simple square of silk, an Hermès scarf is sold somewhere around the world every 25 seconds. In the 79 years since the first Carré was designed by a friend of the family, the Hermès Carré has become a cultural icon. Queen Elizabeth II wore one in the portrait used for the 1966 […]