"" Rome has always held a magnetic pull for me," says fashion designer Mary Katrantzou. "The first trip was with my family when I was 12 years old, and I remember being struck by how deeply history and beauty are embedded in every corner of the city, from the ancient ruins to the color of the stones. It felt like walking through an open-air museum.""
""Rome has this rare energy that feels ancient and alive. In Piazza Navona you feel that duality in full force," says Katrantzou, who loves to watch the light shift around Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers there. " Villa Farnesina is also beautiful," she says. "Raphael's frescoes feel like walking into a Renaissance dream." Other must-sees: Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, or the Square Colosseum, because its "balance between heritage and reinvention reflects so much of how I see design," and MAXXI, the neo-Brutalist national museum of modern art designed by Zaha Hadid: "It represents Rome's evolving cultural voice.""
A London-based fashion designer with Greek roots draws continuous creative inspiration from Rome for leather goods and accessories at Bvlgari. Rome's layered history, light, and architecture inform design choices, from Bernini's Piazza Navona to Villa Farnesina and modern institutions such as MAXXI. The city's tension between heritage and reinvention guides aesthetic decisions. Daily rituals and dining preferences reflect Italian culinary traditions, including espresso at Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè, seafood at Pierluigi, and sweets from family-run Pasticceria Regoli or Otaleg. Rome functions as both a lived environment and a fertile source of motifs, materials, and cultural reference points.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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