THE CURATED EDITION.
Reportage / Gressoney-Saint-Jean
Villa Laubenò, in Gressoney-Saint-Jean in the Aosta Valley, stood in for the Gucci family's Swiss retreat in Ridley Scott's film. Eleven bedrooms, views of Monte Rosa and an asking price of €2.9 million.
HOMES & ESTATES
Some film scenes work as an involuntary calling card for a house.
In Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, the family’s winter retreat in St Moritz is one of them. Off screen, the Swiss chalet of the script has an Italian address. It stands in Gressoney-Saint-Jean, an Alpine village in the Aosta Valley, and it is now for sale at €2.9 million.
Villa Laubenò dates from the early twentieth century and looks towards Monte Rosa, the massif shared by Switzerland and Italy. It was among the Italian Alpine locations used for the 2021 biographical drama starring Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci and Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, and several of the film’s St Moritz sequences, including ski scenes, were shot around the property.
The reason for the choice is plain from the terraces. They look across the valley to the mountains and to Castel Savoia, the residence built for Queen Margherita of Savoy, the first queen of unified Italy, who made this valley one of her favourite summer retreats at the turn of the twentieth century. The architecture follows the classic Alpine repertoire: a stone base, a butter-coloured facade and timber detailing.
The interior keeps the same discipline. Parquet floors, panelled walls, period lighting and decorative wallpapers create an atmosphere that feels dense and domestic despite the scale of the house, around 1,150 square metres according to the listing. In the main reception rooms, a coffered ceiling rises over sitting and dining areas arranged around a generous fireplace. Upstairs, a corridor of wide arches leads to the bedrooms and bathrooms, and several terraces open onto the landscaped grounds and the snow-capped peaks.
The programme runs to eleven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and three reception rooms, with separate staff quarters and a garage for four cars. The size of the building also allows for subdivision: according to the sale material, it could be divided into several independent units, a route that would widen the options for a future owner.
Cinema made it a Swiss retreat. Before the cameras, and after them, it is an Italian Alpine house.
WAYFARER
Details and further reading: Villa Laubenò, Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Aosta Valley, Italy. Eleven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, three reception rooms, staff quarters and a four-car garage. Asking price €2.9 million. Offered by Engel & Völkers, agent Michele Taverna.
Instagram: @engelvoelkers.
Some houses are remembered for a scene. This one was there long before the film, and it now waits for someone to give it a life that has nothing to do with the cameras.
GABRIEL SILVEIRADO, FOR WAYFARER.
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