Tod’s Launches Italian Stories Campaign

MILAN — Tod’s first communication campaign under creative director Matteo Tamburini is perfectly in sync with the brand’s history of shining the light on Italian lifestyle, but there is a twist. For fall, the brand is launching the Italian Stories campaign as if it were a series, with real Italian families, their homes and their stories at its core. The first of the series emphasizes the Businaro family, their 17th century residence, Villa Il Palazzetto, and father-and-son architects Carlo and Tobia Scarpa.

Villa Il Palazzetto, located in Monselice, near Padova, was restored in the 1960s by Aldo Businaro’s friend Carlo Scarpa, and was chosen as the set for the images, lensed by Zoë Ghertner.

“This campaign marks the beginning of a new story that celebrates the Italian lifestyle through unique places and moments of everyday life,” said Carlo Alberto Beretta, Tod’s general brand manager. “In this first chapter, Villa Il Palazzetto becomes the setting for contemporary life stories that celebrate the symbolic values of Italian lifestyle: family, hospitality and timeless style.”

Models Mica Argañaraz, Annemary Aderibigbe, Tommaso De Benedictis and Roch Barbot are seen wearing some of Tamburini’s designs for the brand, including the men’s bomber jacket in leather, with a silky feel that is part of the Pashmy project, or holding Tod’s signature D Bag and wearing the Gommino Bubble loafers.

With this campaign, Tod’s highlights not only Italian lifestyle but also the country’s art, architecture and family ties. The Businaro family have owned Villa Il Palazzetto, which was built in 1627, for more than a century, and it features frescoes, works of art and vintage and contemporary furniture — as well as a striking modernist concrete staircase on the outside of the villa that leads to the main floor, conceived by Carlo Scarpa and completed by his son.

Aldo Businaro, who promoted Italian design throughout his life and advised companies including Cassina, handed down the striking villa to his sons, Francesco, Federico and Ferdinando, who still live there.

“We don’t care about mediocrity, we know beauty, we go in search of the sublime,” Aldo Businaro used to say — a philosophy aligned with Tod’s Group chairman and CEO Diego Della Valle’s aim for superior quality.

Tamburini joined Tod’s at the end of last year from Bottega Veneta, succeeding Walter Chiapponi, and his first collection bowed for fall in February, paraded at Milan’s tram depot dating back to 1912.