Aerial
photographs
of the palace
present a
complex
worthy of a
rocket ship
silo.
Plan of the second principal floor of the
Royal Palace, the winter and summer
gardens above.
pervasive presence of allusions
to the Almighty, both earthbound
and beyond. Guiseppe would
leave the Palace to die shortly
thereafter in the high Alps, with
his valet, in what seemed not just
a medical necessity but rather, a
flight to high, sunlit uplands more
reminiscent of a chapter out
of The Razor's Edge. However
spiritually charged the house
might be, it seems to command
its occupants to be healthy and
in their emotional, intellectual
and spiritual prime.
In any case, Julia Brambilla
was a woman who led with
passion both an active and
contemplative life, some of the
former taking place on the stage
of world events. It was with
great excitement that I retraced
her footsteps from the grand
public rooms through to the
slightly more intimately scaled
private ones. Once after lunch at
Sulgrave Club, Julia and I visited
Washington's Dumbarton Oaks
where some of her Caprarola
furniture is on display, having
been purchased by the Blisses.
Of the monumental effort to
furnish the Palace she wrote:
HYLAND
