Goodbye Marta Marzotto. Italian fashion designer dies at 85

Marta Marzotto died in Milan, aged 85, last week. The fashion and jewelry designer, former model and countess, was considered as one of the most important personalities in Italy. Her funeral was held in Milan last Monday, at the presence of the family and several celebrities.

Marzotto passed away after a brief illness, according to her granddaughter Beatrice Borromeo, who announced the death on Twitter. Marta’s son, Matteo, told the press that her mother was serene and playful until the end, in perfect accordance with her flamboyant personality who made her famous both in Italy and abroad.

After marrying Umberto Marzotto in the Fifties, Marta started working in the textile business, both as a model and a designer for a clothing line in the Standa department store.

In the Sixties, she became the muse of the famous painter Renato Gattuso. She was especially known for her glittering parties in her home in Portogruaro, in northeast Italy, and for her buoyant personality, boldly colorful garments and sumptuous, eye-catching accessories and costume jewelry.

A lover of life and luxury, Marzotto owned homes in many famous and appreciated locations all over the world: Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the Italian Alps, Rome, Sardinia, Milan and Marrakesh, in Morocco.

Her luxurious dinner and party guests included not only Italian nobility, but also political leaders from all over the world. Among her acquaintances, there were the Nixons and the Kennedys, but also designers Roberto Cavalli and Giorgio Armani.

There was also a more intellectual side of Marta Marzotto, witnessed by her friendship with several scientists, entrepreneurs and even presidents. Her mind was versatile and vivacious.

Marta’s youngest son and entrepreneur Matteo Marzotto comments: “My mother had projects, always and everywhere. She was hungry for experiences”.

Recounting her life, Marzotto wrote, “It is to the war and the bombs that I owe my thirst for life and cheerfulness, my courage, the desire to fulfil my dreams, to look for them everywhere, to chase them even afar, to travel the world, to possess it.”

She is survived by four of her children. The youngest one, the already mentioned Matteo, is a former chairman of the Valentino brand and currently the president of the trade fair organization Fiera di Vicenza.