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Saraceno, Bellagio | 5 October 2012
It was these necklaces in the window that stopped me in my tracks.
The store is Saraceno, and it’s in the charming town of Bellagio, on Lake Como.
The proprietor / designer is the store’s namesake, Silvia Saraceno. She opened her store (and two others) eight years ago, after working for Giorgio Armani for 18 years. Silvia designs all of the eye-catching jewelry, as well as gorgeous silk scarves and tunics, and cutting-edge handbags. Everything is made in workshops in Milan.
The “stones” in the necklaces (and earrings, too) that I saw in the window are made of resin, in a sublime color palette ranging from dusky blues and misty mauves to celery greens and mellow golds.
These gorgeous chunky bangles are also made of resin, in the same heavenly hues.
Silvia adds fresh designs each season, and all are sold exclusively in her stores.
These bracelets look great worn in multiples.
Silvia was a kindred spirit . . . someone with a similar eye for design. She offered her expert advice on what “looked like me.” (She pegged my style off the bat: simple and understated, with a twist . . . a pop of color or sparkle)
I bought a simplified version of the necklace I’d seen in the window, in bronze-y topaz . . .
. . . and this bracelet, hand-beaded with freshwater pearls and labradorite . . .
. . . I just wish I’d bought one of those tunics.
I guess I’ll have to go back.
Saraceno
Via Garibaldi, 39
22021 Bellagio, Como
Italy
Tel. +39 031 950317
Hi Pam.
We were at Bellagio two weeks ago and ran into Silvia’s wonderful store. Having already been in Firenze and Genova, we had had our worth of outstanding, breathtaking and simply wonderful design stores of any sort you might think of (clothes, apparel, furniture, etc). We would have thought that nothing else could cause admiration anymore. But there was something in Saraceno’s showcase that just stopped us (me and my wife) dead on our tracks. We had to go in and have a closer look.
What followed, was one and a half of the most hallucinating hours I have ever spent in Italy. Silvia was so charming, so inspiring and -have to say this- SO COMPLETELY SEDUCTIVE AND ATTRACTIVE that she seemed to cast a spell of admiration on both of us. All of her creations as well as herself are so perfectly made, exhibited and arranged, that everything in the store seems mesmerizing. Anything you would try on seemed to be a perfect, sophisticated, delicate and beautiful craft, exquisitely designed and manufactured to the highest standards.
Our very nice and warm chat with Silvia enlightened as to the whys of this: she effectively had been Giorgio Armani’s right hand for many, many years, in charge of production of several of his lines of products.
She noticed I was carrying a full fledged Digital DSLR, and once I told her I was a professional photographer, and even more, that my ancestors were originally from the lake besides Como, she seemed to become even more charming and enchanted.
We left the store with 200 euros worth of her beautiful designs.
She even told us why she had left Armani and come to Bellagio: for love, off course!!! She made us almost promise we would go by her main store, located in Bellagio’s Mainstreet, so we would meet her husband… which we obviously did. We then understood why she had left all behind. He was as nice and warm a person as Silvia herself. Not to mention that the Sareceno he tended to -mainly stocked with men apparel- was also a design and fashion haven.
Seeing your blog, I really came to regret not having asked Silvia to pose for a couple of shots for me. I have pictures of most of the people we bought things to; mainly craftmen, artists and small entrepreneurs as Silvia herself. I think almost everything we bought is something special, probably hand made and has a very direct connection with the people we bought them from. Silvia was a perfect example of our “shopping philosophy”… I will miss having done her portrait for ever… but then, as you say, maybe that’s my reason to go back to Bellagio, a truly WONDERFUL place, by the way…
Regards from Chile