Cesare Rovatti, the eternally young éminence grise of Italian interior designers, airily waves away compliments on his œuvre, preferring to recall his origins and childhood in his hometown of Mortara, as the son of a Fiat car dealer. Rovatti’s reluctance to take over his father’s company became clear, however, when he went to study art at the renowned Accademia di Brera in Milan. He was often late for classes because he had to get up at six o’clock and pedal his bicycle to the station, frequently missing the train or the bus connection.
Rovatti is an aesthete pur sang who possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge in the field of historical styles and costumes, and has managed to combine his passion for the beauty of antiquity with the ever-changing trends in contemporary design. His acquaintance with the famous theatrical and film designer Piero Tosi, who created the breathtaking costumes for Luchino Visconti’s Il Gattopardo (1963) and Death in Venice (1971), among others, had a decisive impact on his career. Rovatti became Tosi’s assistant and worked with the designer until 1968, when their paths parted. He then embarked on a long-standing collaboration with the Cinecittà film studios in Rome, collaborating on Romolo e Remo (1961), Oggi, Domani e Doppodomani (1965) and Un bellissimo Novembre (1969).
Looking back on his rich artistic career, Rovatti acknowledges that the sets and costumes he created for Vittorio De Sica, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Mauro Bolognini made him one of the most prolific art directors of his time. But it was the knowledge and integrity of Visconti that impressed him the most, and the fact that the great master of Italian postwar film often doubted his own ability.
Rovatti’s creations for Armani, Missoni, Etro and Valentino brought him into contact with the world of fashion and haute couture, but it was the interiors he conceived for the Fendi sisters, Anna and Carla, that introduced him to the readers of interior design magazines. The remodelling of Carla Fendi’s villa in Sabaudia, designed by Brazilian architect Lúcio Costa, put Rovatti on the map as an architect and won him important commissions from private clients. One of them asked him to breathe new life into a penthouse on Rome’s fashionable Piazza Barberini; in response, he created a set of exquisite rooms that reflected his penchant for timeless elegance.
The owner chose Rovatti to undertake this important project not for the designer’s impressive track record, but because she sensed that he was the only one who understood her desire for a classic interior filled with priceless antiques. She had been invited to his own attico apartment in Rome’s distinguished Vittoria district and was particularly charmed by the 19th-century ambience he had conjured up, which drew stylistic inspiration from the formidable Madeleine Castaing, the doyenne of French decorators. Enriching his client’s home with an interior staircase and a mezzanine was a brilliant idea, and when one climbs up from the modestly proportioned entrance to a set of spacious rooms, one understands that Cesare has decorated the place as if it was a lavish set for a Visconti film.
The floral silk wall covering in the mezzanine and the sunflower yellow of the panelling in the living room are typical Cesare Rovatti touches, and although the sun is held back throughout the apartment, the result looks bright and miles away from the typical gloomy palazzo. As for the rest of the house, Rovatti created a master bedroom with a wrought-iron pencil-post bed and furnished the roof terrace with traditional wicker chairs and orange trees in containers.
When one reminds him of his advanced age and asks if he has thought of retiring, he smiles, but we already know the answer. Because for workaholic Signor Rovatti, there is no place and no time for dolce far niente. Not by a long shot.
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