Villa Fonte Nuova: our Christmas table

I said to myself “Yes! It’s just what we need right now because we all need to dream big and look forward to Christmas with a heart full of hope for the future”.

The year 2020 is drawing to a close and for a long time we will be left with the feeling of having lived suspended between two worlds, between doubts, uncertainties and fears.

Yes, this year will be a different Christmas for all of us, but I am sure it will be more heartfelt in some way. This, I believe, will be the Christmas that will give us the drive to look to the future, give us the desire to take back our lives and see things differently, more authentically.

That is why this year I have created, together with a team of professionals, my, our idea of Christmas. We did it because that is how we want Christmas to be for the next few years.

I grew up between the English countryside and Italy and for me Christmas is about combining traditions and cultures, sitting in front of a crackling fireplace, reading a good book, planning the New Year while sipping a cup of tea and enjoying family and friends. Unwrapping many well-wrapped presents and enjoying the weather.

When Livia and I started telling each other about our vision of Christmas, we discovered that we had the same idea: for us Christmas is warmth, tradition and a love of classic style. The Christmas table for us means cosiness and the style is English, for me, and American for Livia. OK, you can’t be perfect in life!

And so, in the space of a few hours we designed not only the most beautiful Christmas table but also the perfect ambience for it.

How we set our Christmas table

The chosen villa is Villa Fonte Nuova, a villa immersed in the Roman countryside with a decidedly British stille. The room we chose is the splendid Hall of the frescoes on the walls, with old-fashioned stained glass windows and a splendid fireplace in the centre of the room.

For the Christmas table we chose not to use the classic tablecloth but a tartan runner placed in the centre of the table. For the Christmas table setting, we chose beautiful gold-coloured porcelain plates, elegant crystal glasses and refined silver cutlery.

For the Christmas table centrepiece we made a composition of fir branches (can you smell them?) berries, nuts, small decorative elements and the pomegranate, symbol of abundance vital energy, expression of the exuberance of life, fertility, abundance and love.

Christmas outfits

And what would Christmas be without a dreamy red dress? The dress chosen is by designer Elisabetta Polignano, who has created a gown in a precious silk mikado bodice worked with soft pleats that help outline the bride’s silhouette, giving her an enchanting waistline.

The sculptural neckline makes the décolleté, one of every woman’s focal points, precious and emphasises it with extreme elegance and great originality. The skirt is a triumph of tulle deliberately crisp and uncluttered, to give the airy, light effect that the designer is so fond of. The result is a modern dress, sparkling and at the same time precious and incisive.

The make-up, done by Giorgia Bertoldi, exalted the bride’s warm, Mediterranean tones and or I found it simply beautiful.

I can feel the magic in the air and with open eyes I imagine a snow princess bride in a dress that fully reflects the sophisticated allure of the divas of old Hollywood. A tulle embroidered with embossed polka dots, slightly glittering, a bodice with an important neckline decorated with three-dimensional lace, very much in vogue in 2021. An A-line skirt, soft and exquisitely feminine.

Livia confesses to me that she particularly loved this dress from the Elisabetta Polignano collection for its special features. The bride is the undisputed star of her event. She is right. What do you think?

On the set, intent on admiring the beauty of Elisabetta Polignano’s gowns, I asked the director of the atelier Il Giardino Fiorito delle Spose a question: ‘Livia, Made in Italy has always been synonymous with elegance and excellence that the whole world envies us. How do you see the bride of 2021 and what do you think brides will be looking for?

Livia: ‘Made in Italy throughout the world is synonymous with excellence and great refinement. The search for fine fabrics and high tailoring makes our garments unique and inimitable. The 2021 bride is looking for a garment that can make her feel herself, free, a modern princess. The bride is increasingly attentive to tailoring, to the quality of the dress that only our Italian companies know how to satisfy. My 2021 bride is sophisticated, glamorous, original and elegant, and above all she wears clothes that are strictly Made in Italy‘.

I am not surprised by his answer because I know his dedication to his brides and his work.

And the future looks just like this. A sartorial dress sewn on that makes us feel free and gives us pure emotions. Yes, of even stronger emotions I want to live.

I am planning many things in my future that I know will bring me new excitement and new adventures, and to the brides who will rely on me I say do not be afraid of the future.

In me they will find not only a Wedding planner but a sincere friend who will be at their side like a guardian angel, who will know how to make their dreams come true because for me it is wonderful to see them happy on their most beautiful day.

We need to love, to live, to get excited like when, as children, we used to wait for Father Christmas and, with butterflies in our stomachs, we would wait up for him all night and in the morning we would get up incredulous and happy at his arrival.

A magic, the same magic that drives me to realise dreams: my own and those of my brides.