Fendi Casa Assumes New Headquarters in a Centuries-Old Palazzo

When Raffaella Vignatelli assumed leadership of Fendi Casa last year, she inherited more than the stewardship of one of Italy’s chicest furniture brands. Her father, Alberto, who died in 2017, left behind a historic palazzo-painstakingly restored with the help of Parisian decorator Jacques Grange-that serves as the headquarters for the Luxury Living Group, the furniture firm he founded.

Located in the northern-Italian town of Forlì, the Palazzo Orsi Mangelli has “more than 700 years of history, and many legends,” Raffaella says. The original 14th-century palazzo is said to have been ordered to be destroyed by a local countess who “believed its owner had killed her husband.” The medieval entry remains, but most of the lavish 75,347-square-foot palazzo-including elaborate frescoes and intricate mosaic tiling-dates from a 17th-century rebuild. Embellished with antiques and contemporary photographs hand-selected by Grange, the palazzo is a bold backdrop for Fendi Casa’s latest collections. “I wanted,” Grange says, “to convey a sense of la dolce vita.”