This American novelist enjoyed partying with the rich during the flamboyant l920s. But what if he had lived today and observed today’s lifestyles of the rich? What if he went to Europe (as he did during his lifetime, drinking with writers like Ernest Hemingway), to meet Elisa Gera, the beautiful heiress of the Acca Kappa business empire in Treviso, Italy?
Fitzgerald would have been so disappointed. No partying, no dancing on tables. No Great Gatsby-esque moments for this Italian industrialist whose idea of happiness is working with her hands and staying home with her husband, a daughter and a dog.
Fitzgerald might even have a hard time finding Elisa’s home. It is hidden among trees on a hilly area of Collalbrigo, with neither guards nor stately fences to give a hint that somebody important lives there.
"I don’t really like having those ornate walls around my home. I would like it to be as inconspicuous as possible," she says as she drives us in her black Audi to her home.
"Home" is actually a six-hectare estate not at all visible from the main road. You enter a woody lane where, except for a remote-controlled gate, there is nothing high-tech to prevent gatecrashers from strolling in through the trees. "Yes, I should soon put a fence around my place," sighs Elisa. "One morning, I woke up and saw some picnickers admiring my plants."
Plantation is a better word to describe it. Yes, Elisa’s backyard is a plantation where grapes, olives, herbs, flowers and fruits grow abundantly. Looking at it – as far as my eyes can see, that is – it is a plantation obviously nourished by someone with a passion for farming.
"I like working with my hands," she smiles. At the Acca Kappa office and factory, I am a corporate person. But once I reach home, I am transformed into a farmer."
This is something Fitzgerald should have seen. The working rich are different from the idle rich.
"To be hardworking, to be honest, to be serious – this is what I learned from my family," explains Elisa, the fourth-generation leader of the Acca Kappa business empire established by her maternal great grandfather Hermann Krull in 1869.
The company started manufacturing brushes 137 years ago, with the Queen of England as one of its early and faithful patrons. Today, Acca Kappa supplies the world with the best brushes you can find in the international market (Oprah Winfrey is one of its customers), as well as personal-care products. Tops on its list of bestsellers is Elisa’s favorite creation, the Acca Kappa White Moss cologne which is a hit in Paris (as well as in Manila, where it is exclusively available at Rustan’s Essenses). The Acca Kappa Calychantus cologne is the current bestseller in Hong Kong.
"The philosophy of Acca Kappa is different. It’s not about earning money or creating waves in fashion. It’s more about continuing a tradition of providing high-quality products made of natural ingredients using simple designs. Yet at the same time, creating new products for today’s world."
Elisa Gera’s place, in fact, is very much like Acca Kappa. It is so natural, so refreshing and so fragrant. "We try to keep our gardens very natural, so they can blend with the environment."
The whole landscape is perfumed and colored by flowers – lavender, iris, rose, lilac, artemis, plumbago, oleander, helychrysum, italicum – you name it, she probably has it. Many of these flowers are the same blooms that have inspired Acca Kappa’s line of soaps.
There are herbs ready to be harvested for kitchen use – mint, thyme, rosemary and sage. There are fruits and vegetables, too. And don’t forget the grapes and olives. From her own vineyards, Elisa sells the grapes and asks the Treviso winemakers to bottle wines for her family’s consumption. The taste for good wine runs in the family. Her great-great-paternal grandfather Francesco Gera is an icon in the local winemaking industry.
The farmer in her soul makes her enjoy planting the seeds, and relishing her own fresh products. Elisa also grows olives, and she has these pressed to produce extra virgin olive oil simply labeled in bottles as Gera Olive Oil. "Just for personal use," she clarifies.
But perhaps her favorite among the crops harvested from her backyard is the truffles, which are sniffed out by Ginko – her dog belonging to the Lagotto Romagnolo breed – whose forte is hunting for Elisa’s next gourmet meal.
Elisa’s respect for history and love for culture – a value she acquired from her elders – is concretely seen in her home. It is an ancient villa built in the l800s by her great-grandfather Giuseppe Francesco Gera.
The house was reconstructed in two years by Elisa’s husband Massimo Favaro, a renowned architect who, with his team of carpenters, lovingly transformed it into a home with his own hands.
"The house was completely destroyed and falling apart, for nobody lived in it for 70 years," explains Elisa. "And Massimo restored it stone by stone, to its former grandeur, while at the same time adding new areas."
"I like old architecture, even as I admire modern structures," says Massimo who counts Renzo Piano and Philippe Starck among his favorites. "Because old buildings were built with no technology, builders had to think more and be more creative at that time."
Designed in the Umbertino style (prevalent during the time of Italian King Umberto di Savoia), the house has walls made of stone as thick as 70 centimeters to one meter. It is so cool, there is no need for air conditioning. Massimo put in heaters for the winter, even though the family usually spends winters skiing in the Dolomitiv Mountains.
There is a story and a history behind almost every item in the house, jointly handpicked by Massimo and Elisa. At the entrance are chairs from the 1700s, now upholstered in yellow for a bright welcome. A vintage painting of a carnival in Venice dominates the living room. Old photographs, antique plates, vintage glasses from Murano blend with old furniture, many of them reupholstered in white. But not everything is old. There are new artworks by Giani Sartor, a local artist whose talent has been nurtured by the couple.
Nothing ostentatious mars the precious old-world aura of the house. In the dining room is an 80-year-old table from the Acca Kappa factory where workers used to cut wood. Photographs of the couple’s pretty daughter Virginia give warmth to this home. Their daughter was vacationing with Elisa’s mother Ursula Krull during our visit.
Outside, the mood is totally invigorating as the house is surrounded by greenery. For Massimo and Elisa, the most romantic view from their hilly abode is that of the Church of Collalbrigo, where they were married in December 2000.
Like Acca Kappa, the Italian legend of luxury, this home is a work in progress. It has preserved the best of the past, but keeps its windows open for new things.