GREEN GARDENING
STARTING FROM NATURE
‘VERDE GRAZZANO’ IS TAKING PLACE IN THE VISCONTI FAMILY’S PRIVATE GARDENS AT GRAZZANO (NEAR PIACENZA) THIS WEEKEND. IT IS A ‘GREEN GARDENING’ FAIR: GARDENING ‘STARTING FROM NATURE’ (LIKE OUR PERFUMES!).
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON THERE WAS A TALK BY THE CURRENT DUKE AND OLIVA DI COLLOBIANO ABOUT THE DESIGN OF THE GARDEN IN THE EARLY 1900S BY DUKE GIUSEPPE VISCONTI DI MODRONE AND HIS ARCHITECT ALFREDO CAMPANINI, AND ABOUT ITS RECENT RESTORATION BY MS COLLOBIANO.
THIS GARDEN IS A NEXUS OF ART, NATURE, THEATRE AND PERFUME.
FOLLOWING MARRIAGE IN 1900, DON GIUSEPPE STARTED TO REBUILD THE RUINED CASTLE WHICH WAS LESS THAN 2 HOURS FROM MILAN. HE ALSO BUILT A MODEL ARTISANS VILLAGE AND ROMANTIC PARK OVER 15 HECTARES AROUND THE CASTLE.
ART IN THE BLOOD
THE VISCONTIS WERE AT THE CENTER OF MILANESE SOCIETY. THEY HAD ARTISTIC TASTES AS WELL AS THE CONNECTIONS AND MONEY TO DEVELOP THEM. IT WAS NOT BY CHANCE THAT THEIR SON LUCHINO BECAME A DIRECTOR!
FROM THE LATE 1940S VISCONTI DIRECTED PLAYS, FILMS AND OPERAS. HE DIRECTED AT LA SCALA, COVENT GARDEN AND VIENNA STATE OPERA.
FRAGRANCE
DUCHESS CARLA WAS THE GRAND-DAUGHTER OF THE FOUNDER OF CARLO ERBA PHARMACEUTICALS (HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK GIUSEPPE COULD AFFORD TO BUILD CASTLES, VILLAGES AND PARKS IN THE 20TH CENTURY?)
GIUSEPPE WAS A TIRELESS POLYMATH. HE CREATED A PERFUME BRAND ‘GVM’ (HIS INITIALS) FOR THE CARLO ERBA COMPANY. THE SCENT FROM GVM THAT LASTED THE TEST OF TIME WAS ‘ACQUA DI SELVA’ CREATED IN 1949. IT BECAME THE ITALIAN POPULAR MENS COLOGNE. IT IS A FRESH PINE / CEDAR / HERBY SCENT: PERHAPS INSPIRED BY THE MAJESTIC PINES AND CEDARS THAT GIUSEPPE PLANTED AT GRAZZANO.