Good Wine is Always in Fashion
Anna Fendi, now in her ninth decade, is a force to be reckoned with. Her boundless creativity, far from diminishing, seems to have reached new heights. As one of the iconic five Fendi sisters, Anna is the daughter of Adele Casagrande and Edoardo Fendi, the founders of FENDI, a name synonymous with luxury in the global fashion industry.
Anna, the Head of Development at FENDI for 30 years, saw the family business transition when Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH Group) acquired it in 2000. Her daughter, Maria Silvia Venturini Fendi, the creator of the iconic Baguette handbag, stepped up to continue the family’s dedication to the brand, collaborating with the then-Artistic Director Karl Lagerfeld, and currently working with the Artistic Director of Womenswear, Kim Jones. Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Silvia’s daughter and Anna’s granddaughter, now heads the company’s jewelry division, ensuring the family’s legacy lives on.
Photos courtesy of www.AnnaFendiVini.com
As part of one of Italy’s most prominent families, Anna Fendi grew up celebrating her country’s rich cultural heritage and reputation for exquisite products. After leading the family business creatively for many years, she ventured into a new field of Italian expertise by curating a collection of wines and accessories designed to complement the Italian lifestyle, which she calls Anna Fendi’s Guide to Good Wine.
Anna Fendi Vini
She collaborated with her husband, wine enthusiast Giuseppe Tedesco, and a team of wine experts, selecting over 20 top Italian wine producers for her collection. She focused mainly on small producers embracing a traditional approach to winemaking, choosing based on the producer’s reputation and the wine’s distinct characteristics.
The cherry-picked wines are in bottles labeled with Anna Fendi Vini (AFV). It’s important to note that Anna doesn’t produce the wines herself; instead, she curates a collection of her favorites.
The Art of Tableware
To complement the wine collection, Anna collaborated with Venice’s Murano Island glass artists to create wine glasses and cases in Plexiglas and leather for her design collection, AFV—Anna Fendi—The Art of Tableware.
Anna’s fashion influences are always apparent—the wine collection pays homage to her family’s craft. The fanciful names of the wines nod to the intricate patterns and textures often seen in the fashion world, effectively connecting the two industries. Even the labels have a crocodile print texture.
Some of AFV wines include Brocatto (brocade) for a Montepulciano d’Abbruzzo DOCG, Spina di Pesce (herringbone) for a Soave DOC, Gabardine for Castel del Monte Aglianico, Bolero for a Barolo DOC, and Voile for Gavi di Tassarolo DOC Bio.
Villa Laetitia
AFV is not Anna’s only post-FENDI venture. After stepping down from her position, Anna oversaw the restoration of Villa Laetitia, a former historical residence along the Tiber River in Rome. She transformed it into a luxurious hotel concept and added a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Enoteca La Torre. In 2013, Forbes named Villa Laetitia one of Rome’s three most romantic residences. Condé Nast Traveler described it as “a charming hotel oozing old world Italian glamor, appealing to the fashion-forward of the world.”
The AFV collection is offered at Villa Laetitia, Enoteca La Torre, and other select locations. Notably, it can be found at a former Fendi family home, today a B&B, also called Villa Laetitia, on Ponza Island in the Pontine Islands off the Roman coast, and at La Canonica Dei Fiori, a Fendi country home now operating as a boutique hotel in Ronciglione, Italy.
Archeo Wine Gallery
The collection is also available at Archeo Wine Gallery, AFV’s wine gallery in Rome’s Testaccio neighborhood. Situated near a former river port, the wine cellar is built around and focused on the thousands of layers of terracotta amphorae that Roman wine vendors smashed and disposed of by neatly arranging them at the site thousands of years ago. Anna, always with a creative eye, highlights the broken amphorae throughout Archeo.