The Ladybug’s “friendly” weekend in Rome

My weekend in Venice was not the only one out of town in March: I also spent a great weekend in Rome to visit my adorable friend Simona and with her my new bunch of friends in town.

The great thing about it is that each of them has their own special feature: for example one is a great runner, which makes sport an important part of the weekend, one is specialized in great restaurants and music selection in the car (yeah, you know who you are!) ensuring at least a great dinner and lot of singing especially on the way back home, one knows (and makes) the best cocktails so that drinking is covered as well and Simona is the perfect pair for running, drinking, eating with special bonus for shopping and art.

Art was indeed the first excuse for this trip: the exhibit on Henry Toulouse-Lautrec was at the Ara Pacis museum (it is still there until the 8^th of May) and we planned a lovely visit on Sunday morning. It was my first Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit and I was totally amazed by his art including posters, illustration and photographs. What I liked most about the exhibit was the way it managed to re-create the world in which the artist worked: the Paris of the Belle Epoque, the bohemian city of the late XIX century.  After the visit we walked to Piazza di Spagna, had a healthy stop for lunch at Ginger in via Borgognona and enjoyed some window shopping in this amazing city.

I never get tired of walking in Rome: on Saturday (after a morning run with the girls and a classic dance class in the afternoon!) we headed to Campo de’ Fiori for a drink. It was a special occasion in Rome that day: the rugby match between Italy and Scotland turned the whole city into a great party venue. Handsome Scottish men in kilt were hanging around playing the bagpipes (it happened also in the restaurant where we ate later and it was AMAZING!), drinking beer and making it even easier than usual to chat and have fun with strangers in the streets! It was the funniest thing ever!

By the way, if you want to try a good restaurant in Rome we went to Casa Bleve, in the courtyard of wonderful XVI^th century building in via del Teatro Valle where you can also visit the Roman ruins of an ancient wall, have a great quality dinner and be sure to find the perfect wine that goes with it.

(For the visit to Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit I wore Stefanel camel coat, Acne Studios jeans, Prada sweater, Lazzari brogues, Miu Miu bag and Momonì scarf).

The Ladybug’s vintage riddle of the day!

November has just ended and I have a little riddle for you: which amazing vintage event takes place twice a year in Milan, in April and November? I know, this is easy and as I guess that you are a vintage lover it is even easier! It is the Milano Vintage Week! The thing is that, if you are a vintage lover in Milan there are for sure a few shops and markets where you can go for vintage shopping but many of them are way too expensive, so all that you can do is wait for your favorite vintage event in town where you can still find good pieces at affordable and fair prices and where you can breathe (and shop) vintage for a couple of hours!

This year I brought one of my non-vintage-lover friend who ended up buying vintage inspired pieces, which is the first step to move into vintage fanatics world! I did the same of course, but this is no news!

As always my little vintage paradise in Milan was full of great stalls and pieces and I could see my “vintage friends” (Opherty & Ciocci, Shabby Chic, Magnifica Preda, A.N.G.E.L.O.), meet new dealers and crafters and be part of some of the many events and activities that at every edition make this Vintage Week fun and pleasant (workshops, presentations, beauty and hair tutorials, retro inspired photoshoots).

I also visited the lovely exhibit (in collaboration with A.N.G.E.L.O.) dedicated to Valentino with some of his beautiful pieces from the 70’s and 80’s. The two rooms dedicated to the designer were a real paradise for those who love vintage, but also for those who appreciate a good piece of fashion. I spent a lot of time admiring the decorations and the wonderful work on these pieces, and I was really amazed to find a kind of creativity that doesn’t exist anymore. It was a way of reminding me why I love vintage fashion so much!

I wore Heka Couture lace jabot, Dixie black culottes, Max&Co black coat, Maison Momonì folk clutch, 8 pointed brogues and & Other Stories glitter socks.

The Ladybug’s memories from Paris

It feels a bit strange to write about Paris right now, about a week after the sad events of the 13th of November. But I don’t want to keep these sad memories and I want to remember my Paris, the city I probably love most in the world due to my past experience, through the same eyes I had when I visited for a weekend a couple of weeks ago.

If there is a city in the world that I still would move to immediately this city is Paris. I spent there part of my youth during many long stays mostly for study and my first travel ever alone was there. I can say that I know the city pretty well and that I left a piece of my heart there. This is one of the reasons why I don’t go there too often, because I feel so sad when I have to leave! My last visit was about ten years ago. At the beginning of the year I decided that 2015 was the year for my “homecoming” and I picked up the best vintage event in town to have the perfect excuse to go and visit my friends in Paris: the Salon du Vintage.

We will talk about this event in my next post but for now I just want to tell you about my Saturday around Paris. I didn’t feel like visiting as a tourist so I decided to pick up some interesting exhibits to visit during the day and just walked around enjoying the atmosphere and the life as a real Parisian (which meant also eating in lovely French bistrots and cafés). I started the visit with the Andy Warhol exhibition, Warhol Unlimited, at the MAM – Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. It was a great exhibit maybe my third or fourth of Mr. Warhol but I could see some of his pieces I’ve never seen before, including short videos of the Factory icons and Jackie Kennedy paintings. It was also the occasion to walk around the Palais de Tokyo with one of my favorite views of the Eiffel Tower!

Second stop was one of my favorite places in the world, the Centre Pompidou, where I could finally visit Cuban artist Wifredo Lam exhibit and walk around one of my favorite areas in Paris also full of vintage shops where I spent part of my afternoon (I will tell you more in my next post!), before heading to the Pinacothèque de Paris to visit Karl Lagerfeld amazing photography exhibit A visual journey.

I couldn’t help heading to the FNAC to buy French books and walking to the Ile de la Cité to visit (again!) Notre Dame Cathedral. From there I walked to Saint-Germain-des-Prés to remember the area of French artists and intellectuals of the 40’s and 50’s (no wonder I had Simone de Beauvoir books in my bag!) and one of my favorite areas in town.

It was a quite full day of exploring and re-visit places that really mean something to me and I realized that nothing has really changed even if things have changed on both sides (Paris and mine!): this is the city that I married years ago and that I’m still madly in love with!

More about “Vintage Paris” in my next post!

I wore Whistles dotted dress, Max & Co coat and bag, Lazzari shoes and Maison Momoni scarf.