Marella Agnelli's Enchanting Estate in Northern Italy
1/20Chinese Gallery
The flamboyant Chinese Gallery is the centerpiece of Villar Perosa, the 18th-century Northern Italian estate that has been style leader Marella Agnelli’s country home since 1953. She restored the vaulted space with the help of French decorator Stephane Boudin.
2/20Main Salon
A sofa designed by Stephane Boudin spans one end of the piano nobile’s main salon, which is decorated with panels of antique Chinese wallpaper; the Italian chandelier dates from the 18th century.
3/20Online Exclusive - Main Salon
Eighteenth-century painted-stucco decorations enliven the main salon on the piano nobile; the consoles are Piedmontese antiques, and the open doors lead to the famous Chinese Gallery.
4/20Second Salon
An 18th-century landscape by V. A. Cignaroli surmounts a sofa in another salon, while the easel holds a painting of the Marchioness of Prie, a former owner of the villa; the carpet is an antique Aubusson.
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5/20Salone da Gioco
Card games were traditionally played in the salone da gioco, where 18th-century Piedmontese portraits of a king and queen of Sardinia are displayed.
6/20Dining Room
Majolica plaques ornament the walls of a dining room; the furnishings are antique.
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7/20Online Exclusive - Library
Paintings by Armando Spadini (left) and Emmanuel Gondouin hang in the library, which Agnelli and Stephane Boudin created in the 1950s; the sofa is a Boudin design. The floral pyramids, here featuring dahlias, are an Agnelli hallmark.
8/20Television Room
Finely pleated fabric lines the television room; an 1880s Louis Vivin painting of a heron hangs above the antique sofa, amid 19th-century botanical illustrations.
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9/20Marella Agnelli's Suite
On the top floor, the suite belonging to Marella Agnelli is embellished with a lively floral pattern.
10/20Gianni Agnelli's Suite
For more than three decades, her husband, Gianni Agnelli, slept in this grand room on the piano nobile; the 18th-century bed is curtained with embroidered fabric of the same period.
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11/20Online Exclusive - Gianni Agnelli's Suite
Gianni Agnelli’s onetime bedroom on the piano nobile features a painted Piedmontese armoire; a Charles X Savonnerie carpet softens the terrazzo floor.
12/20Bishop's Room
Decorated by Stephane Boudin in the 1950s, the Bishop’s Room features antique paintings set within carved moldings, an embroidered bed, and a Louis XV leather-clad sofa.
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13/20Children's Wing
Adjacent to the original 1730s house, attributed to architect Filippo Juvarra, is the vine-covered children’s wing, constructed in the 1920s.
14/20Online Exclusive - Entrance Hall
An entrance hall in the children’s wing, with the breakfast room beyond; the painted tall case clock is Louis XV.
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15/20Online Exclusive - Children's Wing
Bronze busts and portraits of family membersare displayed in the children’s wing, which wasconstructed in the 1920s; the doors lead to bedrooms, and the large circa-1927 group portrait depicts Gianni Agnelli (left), his sisters Susanna and Clara, and their half-American mother, Virginia Bourbon del Monte.
16/20Online Exclusive - Children's Bedroom
Flowered borders outline a bedroom in the children’s wing; beside the French doors hangs a painting by Constant-Joseph Brochart.
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17/20Loggia
A loggia is outfitted with rattan and wicker furniture.
18/20Loggia
The loggia on the piano nobile overlooks gardens refreshed and clarified in the 1950s by Marella Agnelli and landscape designer Russell Page.
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19/20Chapel
Yews and boxwood embrace the Gothic Revival family chapel.
20/20Bridge
Inspired by 18th-century British architect Sir William Chambers’s chinoiserie work, Page devised a bridge over a small valley in the woodland garden.
