The woman in red. My first virtual contact with Maria Pia Calzone was three years ago. I took a fancy to her thanks to her character in the first season of Gomorra the Series, Imma Savastano. She had already been great in Mater Natura, where she interpreted a Neapolitan transsexual, but thanks to Gomorra she has become more popular (117k followers on Instagram and 26615 on Twitter) and protagonist of other successful movies like Io che amo solo te and Dobbiamo parlare. Style Magazine dedicated to her a portfolio signed by Toni Thorimbert. At first I was so influenced by her camorrista character that I imagined a woman as tough in real life. But Maria Pia is really sweet, actually. In this picture, taken from Cinema Italia, the great book by the photographer Simon, she plays the role of the sexy icon. She plays, because she’s ironic and funny. But, to tell the truth, she’s sexy indeed.

M like Mode. The first issue of M was published twelve years ago, in spring 2006. M was one among many glossy fashion magazines: nice size (big), high-quality paper, great photographers and important brands for pages that showed the season’s trends; it was the last fashion specialized published by Rizzoli. The type and font of the letter M was the same of a very popular RCS magazine: Max, the monthly publication well-known for calendars (Ferilli issue was reprinted and sold more than 500thousands copies). But Max was many other things: De Niro on the cover of the first issue (1985) and the first italian magazine to have Lady Gaga on the cover (december 2009, picture by Ellen Von Unwerth) back when no one would have imagined, thanks to the intuition of Andrea Rossi: the same journalist that today writes “Il graffio” for Style Magazine. M like Mode, M like Max. Many readers conserve M issues still today, that hung in there since the beginning of the great crisis, three years later. And it’s interesting to notice that today many young people, between 25 and 35 years old, show a real interest for paper magazines that are high-impact, glossy, very well-finished. But the best thing is to be a success both in paper and online publications: an example? The supplement you are reading, Io Donna…

Triumphant Milan. “This book is not only an itinerary through some of the most beautiful entryways of Milan’s buildings, but also an emotional journey where the sense of chic lies in the balance between color and minimalist splendor”. This is the beginning of the book Entryways of Milan (Taschen), edited by the german art director Karl Kolbitz, with a writing of the fashion designer Stefano Pilati, that in his collections for Yves Saint Laurent and Zegna has always proved that he knows how to conciliate with balance colors and shapes. The entryways photographed, no less than 144, have been built from the 30s to the end of the 60s in areas that until 20 years ago where considered adjacent to the historical centre but not central. Now that Milan is one of the most interesting cities in Europe again, the suburbs are an integral part of a metropolis that lives of tourism, thanks also to art and design. Talking of fashion: today brands look for a futuristic placement, releasing from past references, apart from some intrusions in the 70s and 80s. And the 30s.

Marcello, that liar. Cannes, May 1987: 31 years ago Oci Ciornie won the Palme d’Or. The movie by Nikita Michalkov, inspired by some novels by Anton Cechov, is not so well known: it is never broadcasted on TV and it is hard to still find a copy. I’m lucky to have one, and I had the great fortune of being that year at the Festival, watching the premiere of the movie and participating at the award ceremony. The story is interpreted by Mastroianni and Elena Safonova, with the special appearance by an extraordinary Silvana Mangano that, even if she was already gravely ill, accepted to join the cast of the Michalkov masterpiece. It was her last movie, she died in Madrid two years later, only 59 years old. I remember one line of Elisa, her character, that she says to her husband in one of the last scenes: “Romano, once in your life, tell the truth”. Yes, because the role played by the great Marcello is that of an incurable liar, looking for a new woman that he finally finds in Russia. The movie is set at the beginning of the 20th century, many scenes are filmed on a cruise ship where Mastroianni shows off several suits designed by the costumers Larisa Lebedeva and Carlo Diappi and made by Sartoria Tirelli.

The eclectic knight. “A Fornasetti item has the power of changing the vibration of any place. A room can be very beautiful, but also rooted in real life. Place a Fornasetti in there and the room acquires a completely different aspect”. This is how, in 2005, Philippe Starck described the dreamlike side of the masterpieces of Piero Fornasetti, (Milan, 1913/1988). His son Barnaba continues the research started by his father and contributes to the success of an artist that revolutionized the interior design concept; a “style changer”, Fornasetti, that “for a long time was ostracized. Far from the strict rules of modernist rationalism, bearer of a narrative and theatrical design that reached the highest peak of modernity, recovering at the same time the classical codes. Piero Fornasetti was put on the borders by a system that didn’t forgive his eclectism”: this is what Silvia Annicchiarico writes in the book Citazioni Pratiche, edited by Electa and curated by Barnaba Fornasetti. If Piero Fornasetti had been a director he would have been Fellini, if he had been a band, the Beatles, and if he had been a modern artist he would have been Damien Hirst. And if he had been a fashion designer?