Marella Agnelli (; born
Donna
Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian.
People
* Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name
* Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), I ...
Marella Caracciolo dei Principi di Castagneto ; 4 May 1927 – 23 February 2019)
['']Almanach de Gotha
The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published ...
''. Gotha: Justus Perthes
Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life
He was born in the Thuringian t ...
. 1942. pp. 398–399. was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
noblewoman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...
,
art collector
A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individua ...
,
socialite
A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having tradit ...
, style icon and wife of
Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
chairman
Gianni Agnelli
Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce an ...
. She often appeared in the fashion magazine ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
.'' She was named to the
International Best Dressed List
The International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time. The American magazine '' Vanity Fair'' is currently in charge of the List ...
Hall of Fame in 1963.
Background
''Donna'' Marella
Caracciolo dei Principi di Castagneto was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, as member of the
House of Caracciolo
The House of Caracciolo () is a prominent aristocratic family from the city of Naples. The Caracciolo are considered one of the most important families in the history of the Kingdom of Naples, holding relevant posts in the Spanish Empire as well.
...
, of the high
Italian nobility
The nobility of Italy ( Italian: ''Nobiltà italiana'') comprised individuals and their families of the Italian Peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by the sovereigns of the Italian city-states since the Middle Ages, and by the ...
. Her father was ''Don'' Filippo Caracciolo, 8th Prince di Castagneto, 3rd Duke di Melito, and hereditary
Patrician of Naples (1903–1965), from an old
Neapolitan noble family. Her mother was the former Margaret Clarke (1898–1955) of
Rockford, Illinois. She had two brothers, ''Don''
Carlo Caracciolo (1925–2008), who inherited their father's titles in 1965 and founded the newspaper ''
La Repubblica
''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arno ...
,'' being known as the "editor prince", referring to his aristocratic birth and elegant manner; and ''Don'' Nicola Caracciolo (born 1931), the holder since 2008 of the titles, as 10th Prince di Castagneto, 5th Duke di Melito, and hereditary Patrician of Naples.
Family

She was married in
Osthoffen to
Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
tycoon
Gianni Agnelli
Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce an ...
on 19 November 1953; they would remain married until his death on 24 January 2003. They had two children:
*
Edoardo Agnelli (9 July 1954 15 November 2000)
*Countess Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen (born 26 October 1955); married first in 1975 (divorcing in 1981) to
Alain Elkann (born 23 March 1950) and second in 1991 to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
n
nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New Yor ...
Sergei de Pahlen (born in 1944)
**
John Philip Jacob Elkann (born 1 April 1976), married on 4 September 2004 Italian noblewoman ''
Donna
Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian.
People
* Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name
* Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), I ...
'' Lavinia Ida
Borromeo Arese Taverna (born 10 March 1977)
***Leone Mosé Elkann (born 27 August 2006)
***Oceano Noah Elkann (born 11 November 2007)
***Vita Talita Elkann (born 23 January 2012)
**
Lapo Eduard Elkann (born 7 October 1977), married on 7 October 2021 to Portuguese rally racer
Joana Lemos
Joana Mascarenhas de Lemos (born 24 April 1972 ) is a former Portuguese rally raid racer. She raced on motorcycles between 1990 and 1995 and automobiles between 1996 and 2004. When she ended her racing career in 2006, she maintained her connectio ...
(born 24 April 1973)
**
Ginevra Elkann (born 24 September 1979), married on 25 April 2009 Italian
aristocrat ''Don'' Giovanni
Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona
The House of Caetani, or Gaetani, is the name of an Italian noble family, originally from the city of Gaeta, connected by some to the lineage of the lords of the Duchy of Gaeta, as well as to the patrician Gaetani of the Republic of Pisa. It pl ...
(born 2 May 1973)
***''Don'' Giacomo Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona (born 15 August 2009)
***''Don'' Pietro Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona (born 31 October 2012)
***''Donna'' Marella Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona (born 27 May 2014)
**Countess Maria de Pahlen (born in 1983)
**Count Pierre de Pahlen (born in 1986)
**Countess Sophie de Pahlen (born in 1988)
**Countess Anna de Pahlen (born in 1988)
**Countess Tatiana de Pahlen (born in 1990)
Career
Agnelli, who was educated in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, was an assistant to
Erwin Blumenfeld
Erwin Blumenfeld (26 January 1897 – 4 July 1969) was an American photographer of German origin. He was born in Berlin, and in 1941 emigrated to the United States, where he soon became a successful and well-paid fashion photographer, working a ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
(living on Park Avenue on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street (Man ...
)
early in her varied career, as well as an occasional editor and photographic contributor to Vogue. In 1973, she created a textile line for Abraham-Zumsteg, for which she was awarded the Resources Council's Roscoe (the design trade's equivalent of the Oscar) in 1977.
An avid gardener, Agnelli authored a number of books on the subject, also providing many of the photographs. Two of her books are about the
Garden of Ninfa (1999) and The Agnelli Gardens at
Villar Perosa
Villar Perosa (Occitan ''Lhi Vialars''; French: ''Grand-Villars'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin.
Villar Perosa borders the following municipal ...
(1998).
More recently, she oversaw the opening of the
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ...
-designed art gallery
Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, built on the roof of the former
Lingotto
Lingotto is the name of a district of Turin, Italy, as well as the name of the Lingotto building in Via Nizza. It once housed a car factory built by Italian automotive company Fiat and today houses the administrative headquarters of the manufactu ...
Fiat factory in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...
, Italy. The Agnelli collection includes
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is kn ...
,
Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...
,
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
,
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primar ...
and
Canova
Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the c ...
masterpieces.
The Swans
The reserved, patrician tastemaker and socialite was also known for her inclusion in
Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
's circle of "swans" wealthy, stylish, and well-married women friends whose company he adored because they "had created themselves, as he had done", and "had stories to tell" According to Capote, Agnelli was "the European swan numero uno", one of the youngest in a group which included
Babe Paley
Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer Paley (July 5, 1915 – July 6, 1978) was an American socialite, whose second husband William S. Paley was the founder of CBS. Known by the nickname "Babe" for most of her life, she was named to the Internation ...
,
Gloria Guinness,
C. Z. Guest,
Slim Keith
Nancy "Slim" Keith, Lady Keith (born Mary Raye Gross; July 15, 1917 – April 6, 1990) was an American socialite and fashion icon during the 1950s and 1960s, exemplifying the American jet set.
She and her friend Babe Paley were the thinly veiled ...
,
Pamela Harriman
Pamela Beryl Harriman (''née'' Digby; 20 March 1920 – 5 February 1997), also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English-born American political activist for the Democratic Party, diplomat, and socialite. She married three times, ...
,
Lee Radziwill
Caroline Lee Bouvier ( ), later Canfield, Radziwiłł (), and Ross (March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), usually known as Princess Lee Radziwill, was an American socialite, public-relations executive, and interior decorator. She was the y ...
and
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
. In her autobiography, ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' publisher and Capote friend
Katharine Graham
Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, wh ...
recounted that the author once told her that if Paley and Agnelli were "both in
Tiffany's
Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is a high-end luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It sells jewelry, sterling silver, porcelain, crystal, stationery, fragrances, water bottles, wat ...
window, Marella would be more expensive" (Personal History, p. 393).
She was portrayed in the American biographical film ''
Infamous'' (2006) by
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is note ...
.
Death
Agnelli died, aged 91, on 23 February 2019 at her home in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...
, Italy.
Honours

–
Grand Officer Order of Merit of the Italian Republic: Awarded the third-highest civil honour in Italy, by President
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006.
Biography Education
Ciampi was born i ...
on 13 September 2000.
Ancestry
Works (partial)
* Agnelli, Marella (2015). ''La Signora Gocà''. Milano:
Piccola Biblioteca Adelphi. .
* Agnelli, Marella; Caracciolo Chia, Marella (2014). ''Marella Agnelli The Last Swan''. New York City:
Rizzoli Rizzoli is an Italian surname.
People
*Achilles Rizzoli (1896–1981), an American artist
*Angelo Rizzoli (1889–1970), an Italian publisher
** RCS MediaGroup, formerly "A. Rizzoli & C." and "Rizzoli Editore", a publishing company founded by Angel ...
. .
* Agnelli, Marella; Caracciolo, Marella; Pejrone, Paolo (1998). ''The Agnelli Gardens at Villar Perosa Two Centuries of a Family Retreat''. New York City:
Harry Abrams. .
* Agnelli, Marella; Pietromarchi, Luca; Bright, Robert Emmett; Forquet, Federico (1987). ''Gardens of the Italian Villas''. New York City:
Rizzoli Rizzoli is an Italian surname.
People
*Achilles Rizzoli (1896–1981), an American artist
*Angelo Rizzoli (1889–1970), an Italian publisher
** RCS MediaGroup, formerly "A. Rizzoli & C." and "Rizzoli Editore", a publishing company founded by Angel ...
. .
Notes
Further reading
* Ferrante, Marco (2007). ''Casa Agnelli''.
Mondadori
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy.
History
The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...
. .
*
Friedman, Alan (1988). ''Agnelli and the Network of Italian Power''. London: Mandarin Paperback (
Octopus Publishing Group
An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefis ...
). .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnelli, Marella
1927 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century art collectors
20th-century Italian writers
20th-century Italian women writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century art collectors
21st-century Italian writers
21st-century Italian women writers
Marella
American art collectors
American autobiographers
American garden writers
American landscape and garden designers
American socialites
American textile designers
American women photographers
Artists from New York City
Deaths from Parkinson's disease
Neurological disease deaths in Piedmont
Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Marella
Italian art collectors
Women art collectors
Italian autobiographers
Italian designers
Italian emigrants to the United States
Italian people of American descent
Italian photographers
Italian princesses
Italian socialites
Nobility from Florence
People from the Upper East Side
Photographers from New York (state)
Women autobiographers
Writers from Manhattan
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American women artists