“For me, the kitchen is the heart of the house,” says Dolce. “It’s a very Italian thing,” agrees Gabbana. “For me, too, the kitchen is where everything happened in my childhood—where I would do my homework, where I’d play with friends, discuss problems with my family. That’s the feeling that we wanted to capture.” And on each level, the rooms are designed to flow through, rather than around, the two kitchens and dining rooms. Dolce, who studied architecture for a little while in Palermo before he became involved in fashion, worked with architect Claudio Nardi on the framework while Rodolpho Dordoni helped the duo find antiques and artworks—thirties and contemporary pieces as well as the “baroque Sicilian” look they love.
A plate of Sicilian marzipan.
In fact, Dolce is hands-on with the design of all the properties in their ever-growing portfolio, which now includes a seaside villa in Roquebrune, on the French Riviera (a short drive from Milan), and a house on Stromboli, the volcanic island off Sicily immortalized in director Roberto Rossellini’s powerful 1949 film. These houses reflect their twin aesthetics. Roquebrune, where “all is black and white, and linear,” bears Dolce’s signature. Stromboli reflects Gabbana’s spirited taste, which, as he describes it, is “more chaotic, more ‘Italian folk.’ It’s really, really, really colorful. A mix of cheap and chic, the worst and the most beautiful things mixed together!”
The first-floor enfilade.
