ART & DESIGN

Pucci Proud


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In the hills outside Florence, fashion royal Laudomia Pucci is bringing her own brand of modern, kicked-back glamour to her family’s 14th-century country estate.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

Laudomia Pucci, in head-to-toe Pucci, lounges in the library of the villa. Laudomia, 44, serves as image director and deputy chairman of her family’s fashion house.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

The Pucci family’s estate, Granaiolo. Secluded on 1,500 acres of rolling hills and olive groves, the house was the site of legendary parties thrown by Laudomia’s parents, Emilio and Cristina Pucci, in the Sixties and Sevneties.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

The villa’s main living room with its vintage Pucci rug. The books and 19th-century furniture are from the collection of Emilio Pucci’s Russian grandmother, a descendant of Catherine the Great.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

La Dolce Villa: Laudomia and her three young children (Larissa, Tancredi and Zenaide) wrapped in Pucci towels by the swimming pool.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

In the hallway leading to the main staircase hangs a family coat of arms, left, made during the Renaissance to mark a wedding. The bust, center, is a 19th-century copy of a Roman piece.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

A chamber where the Queen of Italy once slept is known as The Queen’s Room. In front of the 17th-century bed is a vicuña fur rug by Pucci.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

“As far as I know, this property has always been in my family,” says Laudomia, whose forebears made a fortune during the Renaissance as political councillors to the Medicis. Here, Granaiolo’s monumental entrance hall, which boasts a 16th-century fireplace.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

Emilio Pucci’s 1960s paintings hang behind the desk (the rug is also a Pucci original).

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

In the nearby woods, Laudomia and her husband have built a charming cabin, which they use as a rustic retreat from Granaiolo. Here, the Pucci family and their friends enjoy lunch on the cabin’s porch.

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Photographer: Stewart Shining

In previous decades, the Kissingers, the Niarchoses, the Agnellis and the von Furstenbergs all spent time here as guests of the Pucci family. In more recent years, guests have included Tony and Cherie Blair.