EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
ISABELLA BORROMEO
DAUGHTER OF FAMOUS ITALIAN ARISTOCRATIC HOUSE
SHOWS US AROUND THE SPECTACULAR ROMAN PALAZZO IN WHICH SHE LIVES
Isabella Borromeo is one of Italy’s most fascinating women. An aristocratic beauty as engaging as she is elegant, she is never predictable. Among her many facets, she’s a world traveller with a soft spot for deserts; a voracious reader and fan of folk wisdom; a renowned hostess; and above all a loving, handson mother of three.
Like Isabella herself, the stunning Rome palazzo in which she lives is full of surprises. Amid its wealth of frescoes and antique treasures are countless personal touches that make it a welcoming home – she credits her beloved father Count Carlo Borromeo for instilling a strong sense of family in all his children.
As for the style savoir-faire on show, which she shares with sisters Lavinia and Matilde and Monégasque royal Beatrice, her half-sister, she credits that to designer Marta Marzotto, Beatrice’s late grandmother, whom she thinks of as her own.
‘This is a very Roman house, which has a certain charm’
Isabella stands at the entrance of the palazzo (above), a building that was built as a hunting lodge when Villa Borghese park was forest; the interior garden looks over the Via Veneto (left)
‘It’s a tradition in Roman palazzos to have statues in the hall, but I’ve made ours less solemn’