In Rome, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj’s resplendent picture galleries led the way to the Giancarlo Giammetti–hosted supper. Giammetti’s lush, candlelit tablescapes in the Sala dei Velluti set the evening’s Verdi atmosphere. The grand dining room at the end of the dinner. The Cesi Chapel at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. A statue of Antinous in the courtyard of the Palazzo Odescalchi. A preview of the restoration works in progress on the piano nobile of the Palazzo Odescalchi. An ornate gilt and frescoed ceiling inside the Roman palace. A romantic Roman courtyard. Bramante’s Tempietto within the courtyard of the church of San Pietro in Montorio. Francesco Baratta’s Saint Francis in Ecstasy decorates the interior of Bernini’s Raimondi chapel. Yours truly at Niki de Saint Phalle’s fantastical Tarot Garden in Tuscany. The artist spent a quarter of a century bringing her sculptural vision to life. The sphinxlike sculpture representing the Empress card. Throughout the garden, tiles of Murano, Czechoslovakian, and French glass glistened in the end of daylight. Mirrored tiles provided a disquieting fairground-mirror experience inside the Empress card house. An interior view of the living room in the Empress card house. The enigmatic Moon card sculpture set against an Italian sunset. Inside Valentino’s famed Roman headquarters. I jumped at the chance to sift through the house archives in search of sketches matching gowns in my own collection: Here, a printed organza gown from Spring 1977. And here, a ball gown from Spring 1987—a dress ordered by Susan Gutfreund and worn by her to Valentino’s 30th anniversary festivities in 1991.