Why the Italians are style gurus

A new and exclusive coffee table book that's now out in stores captures Italian families in their mansions, in the company of friends and dogs, and inherent style

Big families and bigger smiles. In matters of happiness and the heart, Italians aren't very different from Indians.
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Like Carlo Noseda, an employee at Saatchi & Saatchi says, "Always put your family first".

He is just one of many subjects featured in The Italian Touch, a photographic compilation of style and sophistication among Italian citizens, launched by leather brand Tod's.

There's never a dull moment when Italians are in the house, and the matt pages of this book come alive with angelic smiles, hearty laughter, upright family pride, quiet moments, even the plump paradox of 70 year-old lawyer Mario Durso teaming branded sneakers with a double-breasted jacket.

The collaboration couldn't be more Italian with the homebred leather goods brand spearheading the project in association with fashion and style journalist Donatella Sartorio and photographer Paolo Leone.

In the dizzying maze of sparkling white shirts, moccasins and Ray-Bans, the tome's leading stars (almost 100 Italians) photographed in familiar spaces, in the company of large families, friends and dogs, are symbolic of full-bodied modernity earned from old-world values and culture.

The delightful portraits take you on a visual tour of Milan and Rome's austerely chaotic homes, offices and artiste spaces, ice-caped Cortina to the overwhelming villas in Palermo, a ritzy family yacht of Lorenzo and Carla Moncada, and Brianza's lush countryside varied locations, each stamped with a unified spirit that's intrinsically Italiano.

The cream cushions with paisley motifs that offset a sprawling maroon sofa in Spinola's home in Rome, is once again a now redundant reminder of Italy's connection with India.

Available at: Strand bookstall, Fort.
For: Rs 5,000

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