Beyond Fashion Weeks and Fendi Shows: Olivia Mariotti’s New Definition of Luxury

POH–Frank: Can you tell us a little bit about your early life—where you grew up and what shaped your worldview?

Olivia:  First of all, my mother is German and my father is Italian, so there was already a multicultural background. Very different views on life, on the role of a woman—especially in a country like Italy at that time.

We moved from the city center of Rome to the countryside when I was five. From that moment, my life was completely immersed in nature, and I loved that. Horses became the center of my life until I was 22. I was training every single day—there were no Saturdays or Sundays. You couldn’t be tired or lazy. That discipline stayed with me.

When I was eleven, I was sent to an English school, and that really changed my perspective on the world. The Italian method of study is inductive—you learn everything by heart. The British curriculum is deductive. At that age, and for someone like me, it was kind of a miracle, because suddenly I understood what we were doing.

We did biology with labs, physics with experiments, and the art room was about 600 square meters on the top floor of the school. You could do everything—from pottery with wheels and ovens, to oil painting and mixed techniques. There was also music and theater, sports: tennis courts, a pool, a proper Olympic running track with high jump, long jump—everything.

Languages were very easy for me, so my parents decided to send me there. I was also very energetic, so they wanted to channel that energy into many activities.

POH–Frank: Do you feel that your sense of creativity and your way of thinking came more from that school experience, or more from your family environment?

Olivia: That’s a very interesting question, and it actually made me think about something I’d never really focused on before. I think those three years at the English school dramatically shifted my life and my future, in a very positive way.

There was this strong sense of community within the “houses,” across different ages. In Italian schools, you stay with the same class year after year. Here, you mixed with others constantly. There were children from all over the world—kids from embassies, big companies, executives, diplomats, people connected to the World Food Program and similar organizations. You would never see that in Italian schools.

As for my family: my mother was very creative, with a different approach to education—Rudolf Steiner and all of that. My father, too—he was a lawyer, but always building something. He would have loved to be an architect. He was passionate about horses and started breeding thoroughbreds.

Altogether, it was a very unusual Italian family, and all of that surrounded me growing up.

POH–Frank: Being exposed to creativity, international environments, and different ways of thinking—when did you start moving into the world of fashion and branding?

Olivia: After the English school, I was sent back to an Italian school to do classical studies—Latin, Greek, art history, all very humanistic subjects.

My time of sports, labs, and music was suddenly gone, so I was always looking for that balance elsewhere. Horses were still very present—I was training every day, even during high school.

When it came time for university, I actually wanted to go to UCLA to study mass communication and journalism. I loved writing and communication. I think I was born a brander—one of the first people to really talk about brands, when nobody else was. 

So I studied corporate communication. Then, by accident, an opportunity came up. The owner of a very famous hotel—”Il Pellicano”—who I later worked with on repositioning, was a close friend of my father. One evening, he asked me what I wanted to do after my studies. I said I wanted to work in communication. He arranged an interview for me with the former GM of his hotel, who had moved on to work for FENDI. That’s how I arrived at FENDI.

What’s funny is that six months before I started working there, I had an experience that feels very symbolic now. I was friends with the Modugno family. His son Marcello invited me to go with him to a FENDI fashion show at Cinecittà. I said yes—not because of fashion, but because I was curious. I thought it would be a creative gathering, a party.

We ended up at Cinecittà, where they shoot all the movies, at Studio 5. The Fendis were hosting a fashion show inside a gigantic Gothic cathedral that had been rebuilt as a movie set—for Lady Hawke. There was a runway in the middle, and I was sitting in the first row. I was 22. I walked into that cathedral, I was completely mesmerized—shocked, in awe. It was breathtaking. A fully rebuilt Gothic cathedral, enormous, with a runway in the middle. Then this hurricane of models came out, one after the other. All the supermodels—Linda, Naomi, Christy, Claudia Schiffer—everyone was there. I didn’t know who they were; I just thought they were goddesses.

They were so beautiful, and the clothes,—it felt like costumes. It was the best show I had ever seen in my life. No theater, nothing, had ever reached that level. Everything was perfect—the music, the staging, everything. And I remember thinking, Oh my God…

POH–Frank : You were exposed pretty early to beauty and presence—how you can transform and create experiences. Was that something you were fascinated by?

Olivia: Totally. It’s not that when I saw that show I thought, I want to work in fashion. But again—we used to travel a lot. Our parents were always taking us abroad, traveling around the world. So you were used to creativity, beauty, craftsmanship, people…

But this was a completely staged thing. It was the first time I saw something staged like that. Maybe the Pink Floyd concert was also unbelievable with the lights—but these women, these clothes, the makeup, the hair… Everything was so perfect.

And I never would have thought—six months later—that I would be working for FENDI. Unbelievable. Life is unbelievable. I think what I learned then—and what later became really fundamental in my life, even now—is energy.

It’s the incredible energy that flows in something like that. You are completely wrapped into this energy—creative energy, the energy of beauty. I think that’s another thing I never rationally understood, but it kept me working in fashion for so many years.

And then the shootings—with these amazing people. I’ve worked with the most amazing movie directors: David Lynch, Frank Miller, Nicolas Winding, Chris Cunningham ….and all the big photographers. So that is again, always creating beauty, putting together ingredients that have to be faithful to a brand, but always telling a new story—a new collection.

POH–Frank: We could do a complete separate interview about your amazing life in the luxury and fashion world.. But now I would love to steer a little bit into what’s going on right now.

Because at one point you left the traditional luxury world. Correct me if I’m wrong—after FENDI you worked at Bvlgari—but then you had this shift. You wanted to create something more intentional.

Was there a point where you felt: “Okay, I’ve had enough of this wild world of fashion and luxury, and I want to do something new?”

Olivia: I’ve always been fighting—for the good, for rights—not for myself, but when I saw injustice. I put myself in danger several times, because I’m not someone who pretends not to see. And I’ve always had a consciousness about our world—our nature—consuming water… and I think that also came a lot from my parents. They were very sensitive to “non sprecare”—don’t waste. Respect for food, for water in the house. Don’t leave the tap open. Be mindful.

And being mindful of what we were eating—my mother  was using homeopathic medicine in Italy. She came from Germany, and people thought homeopaths were witch craft. And of course she came from a Rudolf Steiner culture, so that has always been a big part of who I was. And I was the girl who grew up in the country, in the forest, with horses, dogs, hens, rabbits… so I never identified myself in the fashion world.

What really kept me there for all those years were two things. One: there was so much creativity—beauty—research—always going ahead, never settling. This thing of being an alchemist and putting together incredible ad campaigns.

I’ve lived in hotels my whole life. I’ve always been obsessed with hotels and hospitality. Maybe it was putting together the human side of hosting, with details, beauty, fabrics—and of course fashion affected me a lot in that sense—and craftsmanship.

Meanwhile—like everything in my life—my father, who had bought and was running this equestrian estate asked : Who wants to renovate this house here? There was an abandoned farmhouse on the property—30 hectares—and I said, “I’ll do it”, because I wanted to challenge myself.

I love architecture and design another passion of mine. So I loved the idea of putting my hands on a house—renovate it—and run it as a small hotel. That was my idea. And at the same time, with horses there. There have been no pesticides—nothing, and I immediately made it become an official organic farm—for our olive oil and all of that.

POH–Frank:  What makes Tenuta di Paternostro. so different from any other retreat or hotel? I had the honor to visit it, and it’s such an unbelievable place. And talking about energy—I can confirm this place has tremendous energy. Not only the location and the history, but you feel in every corner your vision, your talent, your passion for art, and your passion for animals.

Olivia: Every time I went there, I felt very well. I felt very good. It’s like a plateau—the energy there was beautiful. And the horses… At that time they were still in training, when my father was alive and running the place. Now I gave them freedom ( already eight years ago). Nobody rides the horses. The horses are free. I also developed more and more an interest in spirituality. In the past for example, when  I did a shoot in Los Angeles, I would add some days to my trip and go to Esalen and do retreats there. Or  I would go to India, Mexico, or Costa Rica to do retreats. And this was thirty years ago.

I started reading books—Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chödrön—and followed all these people: Jon Kabat-Zinn. My mom has been meditating her whole life, so of course I had an open window there.

What I envisioned when I decided to restructure that house was:  A sanctuary. A thirty hectare sanctuary.

I don’t want to see the horses in those 4-by-4 meter boxes that I was riding my whole young life. I realized that much later —I wasn’t conscious. The relationship with the horse saved my life , my horse was my best friend, my refuge, when I was sad or emotionally distressed. I would always go to my horse.

So I said: not only am I going to give freedom to these horses, but they are naturally the resident healers of this place. They hold an energy for the place. To see them running around or walking at sunset across the horizon line— its like in an African safari—it made me so happy.

And I thought,  I want to do this also for other people. I’ve been searching around the world for places like this. So, consciously and subconsciously, it wasn’t a project that started from A to Z the first day. But some pillars were there that were fundamental for me: hospitality, healing, energy. The importance of nature in our lives.

And the fact that the Etruscan civilization was there—I felt that very strongly. The fact that we have to put roots back in our ancestral life. I thought this place had it all – and it was a family place as well.

So I started renovating it as a small hotel. But what really helped me was COVID. It’s controversial to say—but I decided to go there during the COVID times and I was there for months. We never went out of the gate. No one ever left the gate.

We lived out of what we were cultivating in the vegetable garden. We would only sometimes have something like flour delivered, or a few things we needed to buy.

And I realized we need so little. We went back to the rhythms of nature—waking up before sunrise, you go to sleep after sunset, not so late like we do today, without scrolling Instagram or things like that at the time. Reading. Playing games like Scarabeo. Doing more normal things. Helping in the vegetable garden. Going to the horses every day. Walking. And I thought:  this is life.

POH–Frank: If you have guests coming to experience this piece of heaven—this sanctuary—could you walk us through, roughly, what guests experience? Obviously what’s so special are the horses. My understanding is you offer certain horse-healing. What can people do at Tenuta, besides just experiencing the energy? What is a typical day?

Olivia: So the first thing is the area which is unbelievable. There are beautiful castles—medieval, Renaissance—Italian gardens, woods where you can walk, UNESCO patrimony, lakes, everything… but people arrive and they don’t want to leave anymore. Which is quite surprising.

So your day is filled with walks, and—how can I say—being immersed in beauty. We have this table with a central vegetable garden—herbs and edible flowers. While you eat, you can pick them from the center of the table. But also while you eat, you see the bee coming and diving into a flower… you become one with nature.

We have the sun rising on one side of the house and setting on the other. While the sun sets, the moon rises. We have incredible, zero light pollution —it’s a plateau, you can see 360 degrees. And you see so many stars. 

All the beds are Italian arts and crafts—textiles—made with today’s eye. And they’re all different. You’re not in a hotel. You’re in a house where all beds are different, each room has different pieces of furniture. They’re all one of a kind—some antiques, some vintage, some design pieces.

So I think people feel welcomed as if they’re in an Italian casa padronale—how can I say—kind of high-end. Also the way we set the table, the way we cook: everyone has the same meal, communal table. You can also have separate tables, but most people want the communal experience.

I try to introduce people to each other. A lot of people become friends, and become regulars—they come back and back. 

POH–Frank: And you offer different wellness options as well. Maybe you can explore that a little bit.

Olivia: Our spa is nature. For example, we offer a massage under this sacred oak tree, whose branches go down to the floor. You’re on a massage bed and you feel the light going through the leaves… maybe a leaf falls, or an insect comes and visits you, you feel the wind on your skin, you feel the light. You feel alive. You feel that you have a skin. You feel that nature takes care of you.

Also, the type of massages we do—they all have to do with moving the energy, moving energy blocks.  Our sound healer is local, and he plays didgeridoos—made with wood he takes from local trees. So when he plays his instrument—which comes from Australia, but is made from local wood—he explained to us that he lived in Australia for a while, and there are energetic features that are very similar between the two territories. 

And we also do something called “Horses and Sound”. So we put people in harmony before they walk into the horses’ corral—because now we walk in their space. 

We make people feel this fact of entering a space which is not yours—paying respect, feeling the energy of the horses, understanding… and then we do emotional work—mirror work—with horses, which is very fascinating. And healing goes through relating. Then walking through the property, understanding all the wild herbs that grow here: What is nature giving us? What is each of these herbs? Why is it good for us? What should we do with it?

Seeing the animal footprints—there are porcupines, foxes, rabbits, wild hare…Then we go to the archaeological hill where we have Etruscan tombs. Or we walk to this other Etruscan cave, which used to be a place where they did celebrations—sacred celebrations—at certain times of the year, with the sun coming in a certain way. We work on our roots and our relationship with our ancestors. And as I said before—feeling, working with each other’s energy, and feeling this embrace of the horses, but also all that they teach us.

POH–Frank: You also host  yoga retreats. You have a yoga platform, a tent—so yoga is part of the experience. What kind of yoga groups would your place be perfect for? What have you hosted so far?

Olivia: We do host retreats, yes. Talking about the outdoor spaces at Tenuta—we have this fantastic hay barn, and the garden is all around the house, so you’re really immersed in nature.

We also have a lounge area where, when the weather isn’t great, we do yoga or workshops. And then we have the Bedouin tent—a beautiful platform—where we normally do yoga retreats and yoga classes.

We’re also starting Qigong, because for me, working with energy is fundamental. Qigong is part of Chinese medicine—it’s a martial art, but it’s also medical.

So yes, we’ve been doing a lot of yoga retreats.

POH–Frank: Since you’re such a visionary, I’m curious about your vision for the future, and other retreats. Is Tenuta expanding , or what do you see is next?

Olivia: We’re doing shamanic energy medicine retreats—beautiful ones—where we work with the horses and with the elements: fire, water, ceremonies. There are retreat leaders in that field who come here.

We’re doing family constellations with the horses, which is very interesting. We do creative retreats—writers’ retreats. We hosted the Berggruen Institute for a writers’ retreat. In the near future, we’re going to transform the old racing stables—the ones where horses used to be in boxes—into a pavilion for yoga, retreats, and events. We also curate small, high-end events and celebrations, including art direction. Also offer special day time experiences for guests coming from Rome.

We’re going to build another pool in the same area, and as of this spring, we’ll introduce glamping—beautiful tents—so retreats can be slightly larger and at different price points. I want to be more inclusive.

In the three-year plan, there’s also the development of twelve tiny houses around the property. They won’t see each other. We’ll also do a spa—but in our way. We’re creating a hammam in what used to be a water-collection well, with two other wells becoming hot and cold water ponds next to it, all in the wilderness, with a fire pit nearby.

There are also plans for more rooms—another house, another stable to be transformed into six additional rooms.

POH–Frank: I find it fascinating—starting from creating experiences in the fashion world, and now creating experiences in the healing world. Is there a guiding principle, a philosophy, a mantra that you deeply embrace? Looking back at your journey—what keeps you going? Is there something you would call your life philosophy?

Olivia: Curiosity and Beauty . The gratitude to have a human experience. 

POH- Frank :   Thank you for your time, and thank you for having us at Tenuta di Paternostro