Marella Agnelli

Marella Agnelli (; born Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto ; 4 May 1927 – 23 February 2019) was an Italian noblewoman, art collector, socialite, style icon, and wife of Fiat S.p.A. chairman Gianni Agnelli. She often appeared in the fashion magazine Vogue. She was named to the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List in 1963. Background Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto was born in Florence, Kingdom of Italy, as a member of the House of Caracciolo of the high Italian nobility and aristocracy. Her father was Don Filippo Caracciolo, 8th Prince of Castagneto, 3rd Duke of Melito, and hereditary Patrician of Naples (1903–1965), from an old noble Neapolitan family dating back to the Kingdom of Naples; he took part in the Italian resistance movement, was the executive secretary of the National Liberation Committee, an undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Second Badoglio government, helped overcome objections for the Italian Communist Party to join the government, became secretary for the Action Party, and was general-secretary of the Council of Europe. Her mother was Margaret Clarke (1898–1955), of Peoria, Illinois, United States, and Rockford, Illinois, the heiress of a well-known family of whiskey producers; she hung her mother's portraits in roomscapes of wicker furniture and sprigged cotton. She had two brothers: Don Carlo Caracciolo (1925–2008), who inherited their father's titles in 1965 and founded the Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso and newspaper La Repubblica, and was known as "a prince among newspaper editors", or as "the editor prince", a reference to his aristocratic birth and elegant manner; and Don Nicola Caracciolo (1931–2020), the holder of both titles since 2008, as 10th Prince of Castagneto, 5th Duke of Melito, and hereditary Patrician of Naples. They grew up in Rome and Turkey, and spoke Italian, French, and English. Family She was married in Osthoffen to Gianni Agnelli, the Fiat tycoon who was widely referred to as "the uncrowned king of Italy", on 19 November 1953; they would remain married until his death on 24 January 2003.