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When we think about the Mediterranean Sea, warmth, sunshine and lush greenery, with natural materials and spaces to relax are the most common sensations and images that come to mind. By creating a successful Rome-New York axis, in the 1970s the company Vivai del Sud realised the Mediterranean dream, bringing materials and suggestions from the Italian land all over the world.
The company was founded in Rome in the 1950s with the precise aim of recovering the great Italian tradition of landscape architecture by creating winter gardens and restoring large historical parks. This rediscovered use of greenery and the new challenges proposed determined the immediate success of Vivai del Sud, which from the 1960s expanded its activities beyond national borders, with exhibitions and projects in France, Spain, Germany, the United States, the Middle and Far East and Africa (and, strategically linked to the product, in Senegal, Brazil and the Philippines).
Diametrically opposed to the minimalist style, the furniture proposed by Vivai del Sud with its models in Indian cane and wicker aimed to export the craftsmanship and taste of the deep South all over the world. Originally from Apulia, the three brothers Piero, Giorgio and Gianfranco Di Pierri managed to create a perfect link between Italian tradition and the rest of the world, with an immediately recognisable style. Palms and leaves of every shape and form, but also columns and amphora-shaped vases; bamboo, brass, Murano glass and crystal were among the preferable materials for lamps, and leopard prints, reindeer leather and cheetah patterns was used for the upholstery that were all about opulence.
On the wave of success, in the 1970s the Di Pierri brothers began to expand their production: not only garden furniture, but also interior design items, focusing on unique, expensive and exclusive pieces. The idea was to bring the light and shade of gardens and patios into the home, maintaining the almost ephemeral structures and organic materials that have made Vivai del Sud's pieces famous and sought-after. The success continued.
Furniture, paintings, decorative objects testify to the great originality and love of detail that characterise Vivai del Sud's production: combining Italian Baroque inspirations with stylistic evocations linked to the world of Greek and Roman classicism, they created an unparalleled style that was, and still is, immediately recognised as luxurious and elegant. Hence the large commissions for hundreds of villas, boats and grand hotels of the most important families and companies around the world, including kings and presidents.
But what was the secret to this enormous success? The decision to focus on a specific style has certainly helped to make the brand famous: clients trusted Vivai del Sud, looking for precisely those suggestions for which they had become known throughout the world. We are talking about that warm and reassuring opulence of ancient Roman villas, combined with a touch of Baroque extravagance and traditional Apulian know-how (just think of the art of weaving wicker baskets, now almost completely lost), which skilfully combines distant eras and materials, just the way we like it.
