The Bride Wore 7 Luisa Beccaria Dresses to Marry at Her Family’s Estate in Sicily
Verbier—a small town nestled in the Swiss Alps—was the setting for Lucrezia Bonaccorsi Beccaria and Giulio Rossi Prodi first meeting at a friend’s house in 2019. “After that, we only [had a chance to plan] one weekend in Morocco before COVID arrived,” Lucrezia remembers. “Giulio was in London and I was in Switzerland, so our relationship started over the phone.”
Fast forward to July 2023, and the two were about to indulge in a month off from work and travel to India together. “I was packing my very small luggage, which takes a lot of time and concentration,” Lucrezia remembers. “Giulio was at home—he was always next to me—and I was dancing and already in India in my mind. Then he took me back to reality by stopping me, getting on his knees, and proposing to me. I thought it was an extemporaneous proposal but when I saw the ring I knew that Giulio [had gone] to my father before. I realized that it was a premeditated plan.”
After the proposal, Lucrezia and Giulio started to plan where they might want to get married. Initially, Lucrezia thought the Greek island of Patmos, which is where she grew up, might make the most sense, but after brainstorming a little longer, she realized that the only place that would really make her happy was her family home in Sicily. “[We had to do it] at the home that my parents renovated with devotion and love over 30 years—Feudo del Castelluccio in Sicily,” Lucrezia explains. “At this estate, the Luisa Beccaria aesthetic is on full display.”
The couple’s jumping off point was convincing the Italian train company to let the couple rent an overnight train with a sleeping wagon to bring all of their friends from Milan and Florence to Sicily with an on board dinner. After reaching out, they waited until the end of August for a response—and because it never came they got behind with planning other aspects of the wedding, which had been set for October. “We decided to plan in one month anyways, sending our guests a rebus from India instead of an invitation,” Lucrezia explains. “Our wedding was intimate, although it [really was] was organized in just 30 days. [That said,] it was full of different parties, locations, settings, and full of colorful dress codes.”
Almost every element of the wedding was homemade. “I’m very lucky,” Lucrezia admits. “I had a really great team.” She worked with her mom, designer Luisa Beccaria, to create the table settings, while her sisters Lucilla and Luna planned the dresses, guest lists, and entertainment. Her best friend helped with scheduling and logistics, her brothers Ludovico and Luchino oversaw food and beverages, and the LùBar team and house manager Patrizia to cook and assist. “But most importantly, all of them help me with a lot of love,” she adds.
Curating the bride’s wedding wardrobe was also a family affair. “Luisa Beccaria is my mom’s brand, and it is also my favorite brand,” Lucrezia says. “Apart from fashion and lifestyle, there is also a large bridal atelier.” With full access to the atelier, she ended up choosing seven different looks to wear across the weekend’s celebrations. Her main wedding dress, however, was a custom creation. “My ceremony dress was created from an idea that I had in my mind, interpreted by my sister who found the exact fabric I was dreaming of, and my mother with her years of experience in haute couture. I sincerely think that the dress came out as a piece of art.”
For the dinner that followed the ceremony, Lucrezia wore a haute couture dress from 1995 crafted from a fragile tulle with lace inserts. Giulio, meanwhile, opted for a cream linen suit that he had made while he was traveling in India. “He spent hours with this very small tailor, Sipi from Jaipur,” Lucrezia remembers. “We showed him a traditional Caraceni picture, and we tried to explain to him that we don’t like tight jackets and skinny trousers as are so popular nowadays.”
Lucrezia had her heart set on an open-air wedding, so to achieve this, her mother Luisa Beccaria transformed their family church into a luxurious garden with plants and real grass. “The ceremony was very nice and intimate,” Lucrezia says. “The priest let us do our vows facing our guests, creating an inclusive moment.”
After the church service, a procession took the newlyweds to the Belvedere, a garden overlooking the sea where a Madonna statue is placed. There, Giulio gave a surprise—and very emotional—speech, honoring Lucrezia and her family, followed by fireworks with colored paper ribbons.
An 11-piece band then led guests to the pool garden where drinks were served, while a Sicilian folklore band walked guests through the citrus garden, and finally everyone arrived at the courtyard where there was a table around its perimeter. The tablecloths were antique, and Lucrezia had them embroidered with small mirrors that she found in India. The plates, glasses, and napkins were from the Luisa Beccaria home collection. “I wanted wildflowers from the countryside and branches from love trees that have a lot of olives on them at this time of the year on the tables,” Lucrezia notes. After dinner, cake was served on a patio overlooking the olive groves, before an all-night disco party ensued in the historic outbuildings of the house.
At 2 a.m., a pizzaiolo started making pizza in an old firewood oven that had previously been used to bake bread. “I felt blessed because everyone shared so much love and energy,” Lucrezia says. “Since I was a young woman, I was skeptical about getting married because I somehow thought that was not my thing. Nevertheless, when Giulio proposed after four years of dating, I said yes, despite my beliefs. Now that I am married, I can say that this is one of the most beautiful things that can happen in your life—and that the wedding day is the most incredible one.”
Photo: Felipe Cordeiro1/65My wedding gown without the petticoat hanging in my bedroom. The embroidered taffeta fabric is sustainable as it comes from a spring 2007 Luisa Beccaria collection. Some more needed to be ordered as it was not enough for my huge skirt!
Photo: Felipe Cordeiro2/65I felt so good when I first put on my wedding gown. Here I am in the first floor sitting room.
