Spring and Summer

Rome is where the heart is

Gant home

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words by: Peter Loewe photographs: Magnus Reed.

Nieves Alvarez lives a busy, intense international life with her husband Marco, split between Italy and Spain. She is a genuine Madrileña from a long family tree and he is Roman through and through. She’s an internationally re-nowned fashion model who has worked with all the great designers, he a fashion photographer. Somehow it seemed destined that they should have a life together outside of the

fashion scene and out of the camera lens as well.

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ecause of their work, they’ve been fortunate enough

not to have to choose between Rome and Madrid. Instead

they’ve taken the best of both worlds and created their

very own blend; a hectic life of paparazzi camera lights

following their every move in Spain and a more quiet

family life in Rome where they can even find the time to

visit Marco’s family’s country home outside the city.

Right in the centre of Piazza Ottavilla in Rome, you’ll

find a 1930s building that is a blend of functionalism and

post-classicism. The house is well known in the neigh-

borhood. An old poet, who wrote beautiful, dark poems

about death, used to live on the ground floor. On the floor

above lived a painter who shied away from daylight and

had had all the large windows plasteredover.

At Home in Rome

Today however, the charming penthouse at the top of the

building is suffused with light; that unique Roman light

which kisses marble, pine trees and children with the

same golden intensity. Because this is where Nieves and

Marco live with their three kids. The apartment is abuzz

with life courtesy of those little twin turbos, Bianca and

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B

Brando. On the small terrace, big brother Adriano, 4, is

washing his toy cars in an inflatable pool.

“The connection with Rome, the love for Rome – it

is so strong,” Nieves explains. It is a love that just keeps

growing, no matter how impractical it may be to pull a

pram through busy Roman streets or how many more cit-

ies you visit. Marco knows. He was actually born here in

the neighborhood of Monteverde, which fittingly means

the “green mountain”, as large parks surround it. Even

as early as his school days, he would often gape at this

large building from the bus window. With a longing in

his young heart? He nods and smiles, revealing that he

kept an eye on the house over the years. When an opening

came, he jumped at the chance to buy.

Design and philosophy

This is not your typical Roman residence – other than

perhaps the façade with its thin rust colored bricks, which

is an updated version of an antique tradition. The inte-

rior bears witness to the traveling life Nieves used to live,

with Bali and New York leaving the most traces. Interior

design is a common interest for this couple. Precious ori-

ental woods like jacaranda and teak meet classic mod-

ernist design furniture. A tiny Buddha bought by Nieves

watches impenetrably over the family and the conjugal

bed on the freestanding loft that is the top floor. This is

actually not so much a traditional family apartment as

it is an ex-bachelor’s pad. However the apartment more

than makes up for the lack of large children’s bedrooms,

with its great charm and style.

With 2000 years of mixing cultures and styles, the

couple’s aesthetic ideal, an eclectic mix based in 1950s

American modernism, feels completely natural in Rome.

In the apartment, well-known interior design magazines

share space with Spanish gossip weeklies, often with the

family on the cover. Even though they can live a quiet life

here, the paparazzi are on constant alert outside their

home in Madrid. But they don’t seem too bothered by the

ever-present photographers, as this is one family that’s

never been involved in any particularly dramatic gossip

stories. The only effect the paparazzi have had, Nieves

says jokingly, is that nowadays Marco always shaves and

gets dressed before picking up the morning paper instead

of after.

Family pictures

Just like any family with small children, the majority of

their evenings in Rome are spent at home. But they do

manage to get away to exhibitions and parties as well,

with the odd visit to a restaurant, or Marco’s relatives out-

side the city or a trip to the movies thrown in for good

measure. Naturally, when they go to the cinema, Nieves’

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A big part of spending time at home is home cooking, of

course. Which, being Italian, is Marco’s responsibility.

Nieves laughingly admits that she cannot cook to save

her life. Marco however can often be found preparing

delicious risotti, stirring them with care and love for 20

minutes, while guests and family socialize in the large

open living room. Strangely enough, pasta is a rather rare

occurrence at this Roman dinner table. Except for when

Marco makes Nieves’ very exclusive favorite dish: fresh

egg pasta covered in thinly sliced white truffle.

That’s why the family, when going back to Spain, often

makes a detour to Acqualagna in the Marche region on

the Italian east coast. That’s where they get a particularly

special white truffle, which is found nowhere outside of

Italy. The truffle is then stored in the freezer, just waiting

for the right moment. In this family, paella can’t hold a

candle to white truffle.

Mixing and matching

Nieves laughs again. She is a fiery Spaniard who loves

bullfighting and gets an ecstatic sparkle in her eye when

explaining that she has just bought tickets to see torero

José Tomás. At the same time, she prefers an Italian white

wine like Vintage Tunina to a Spanish Rioja. Two worlds

– Italy and Spain – have come together effortlessly in this

harmonious family. Which is not hard to understand,

given Rome’s 2000 years of experience in blending differ-

ent cultures and people.

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