D’Annunzio’s Lovers’ Lingerie and Personal Items Displayed at Vittoriale

The spotlight shines mischievously on the lingerie of D’Annunzio’s lovers. “To Not Sleep” is the title of the exhibition opening on Tuesday, July 4th, which will display in the Vittoriale’s underground theater pieces of women’s underwear worn by the women who delighted the languid Gardone nights of the Vate, usually kept in the wardrobes of the Guest Room. It’s no secret that D’Annunzio was an insatiable and imaginative lover, so it is not surprising that a large quantity of dresses and intimate garments for women, many designed by D’Annunzio himself, have emerged from the wardrobes of the Vittoriale. Silk nightgowns by the renowned dressmaker Biki, chiffon and colored crêpe negligées, golden mesh tunics, large floral shawls, robes, bathrobes, and other accessories of female seduction will be on display throughout the summer, accompanied by photographs of the women who wore them—the “abbesses,” as D’Annunzio called them, mocking the monastic regime that age might have suggested he adopt. In the most intimate rooms of the Prioria, famous figures such as Ida Rubinstein, Elena Sangro, Lusia Casati Stampa, princesses, countesses, baronesses, ballerinas, silent film actresses, as well as simple, unknown street girls, nurses, dressmakers, and waitresses attracted by D’Annunzio’s charm—and perhaps his prodigality—passed through. The chaotic comings and goings were overseen by the faithful housekeeper (and occasional lover), Aélis Mazoyer, who was close to the poet from 1911, during the French period in Arcachon, until his death in 1938. She was the teacher and director of the D’Annunzian harem, under the watchful, then resigned, gaze of Luisa Baccara, who officially was the house’s mistress—the pianist. Fully aware of the poet’s bedroom tastes, Aélis dressed, perfumed, made up, and “instructed” the guests, following D’Annunzio’s detailed instructions scrupulously. Every woman D’Annunzio invited to the Vittoriale had to embody the most updated version of femininity, adorned with “navel” necklaces and smoking cigarettes with long ivory mouthpieces, according to the fashion of the time. Thus, the poet watched them as they moved towards the bedchamber in the Vittoriale: “…when she walks in front of Michelangelo’s Prison, smoking a cigarette, as long as the bar counter, the 20th century already seems remote and infused with the enchantment of the past…”. Next to the garments and photographs, the exhibition will also feature precious toiletry objects, jewelry (loaned for the occasion by Bucellati), and autograph notes by D’Annunzio on female elegance. The display will include the poet’s own intimate clothing: fine linens, nightgowns, and sumptuous robes in brocade and velvet, with matching slippers demonstrating D’Annunzio’s almost maniacal attention to every detail of dress. The exhibition is yet another testament to the Vittoriale’s administrative council’s effort to make the artistically and culturally significant patrimony stored within the D’Annunzian citadel fully accessible, which still holds surprising discoveries. In this case, from the old wardrobes of the Prioria, skeletons… in déshabillé have been uncovered.