Italian state TV and news agency ANSA say Marella Agnelli, widow of Fiat tycoon Gianni Agnelli and a 20th-century symbol of elegance, has died at her family home in Turin, in Italy’s northern Piedmont region, at 91.
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Piedmont Gov. Sergio Chiamparino says Italy has lost an illustrious figure known for “grace and elegance.”
The daughter of a Neapolitan prince and an Illinois-born mother, she married Agnelli in 1953.
With an academic arts background, she did photography for Conde Nast publications. Agnelli herself was the subject of a photo that became an iconic fashion image – a 1953 black-and-white portrait by Richard Avedon highlighting her long, graceful neck and dignified beauty.
The Juventus soccer team, which is part of the family’s economic empire, also announced her death, hailing her arts patronage.
