The Carla Fendi Foundation is a Rome-based private non-profit organization established in 2007 and named after its founder. The Foundation’s mission is the creation and sponsorship of projects that promote cultural and social initiatives, using its own financial resources and without support from public or private entities or commercial enterprises. In addition to projects related to artistic events, performances, and theatrical and musical productions, the Foundation directly commissions and funds the restoration and conservation of artistic heritage, establishes awards and scholarships, and supports residency programs and social projects. Since Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi assumed the presidency, the Foundation has also promoted the dissemination of scientific thought by supporting the work of scientists and research centers. The Foundation has collaborated with the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi since its inception, becoming its Main Partner in 2012, and also supports projects by other non-profit organizations such as CERN, the Mahler & LeWitt Studios, the American Academy in Rome, and the Watermill Center.
A tireless perfectionist, an expert in public relations, a strategic mastermind with brilliant organizational intuitions, but also a creative spirit and a forerunner of styles and trends with a sensitive eye: Carla Fendi was all this and much more. Her strong personality and curiosity about the world, her ability to think outside the box combined with a deep sense of discipline, are among the qualities that in the space of few years enabled her, together with her sisters Paola, Anna, Franca, and Alda, and later with Karl Lagerfeld, to transform a post-war family business into a luxury brand famous all over the world. Her sphere of activity extended beyond the field of communication and public relations. Throughout the development and growth of the family business, Carla Fendi often demonstrated remarkable commercial insight, particularly with regard to the strategic approach adopted in the late 1970s to enter the American market, which proved decisive in the brand’s international rise. Her contribution to shaping the brand’s style and image was highly significant, as part of the dialectic relationship the five sisters, all with marked individualities, were able to develop within the company, on the basis of their common and strong work ethic that made them leading figures in the global fashion world. In 2008, the new partner LVMH, which had acquired Fendi in the late 1990s, appointed Carla Fendi Honorary President for life, in recognition of an outstanding career spanning more than fifty years.
But it’s impossible to speak of Carla Fendi without broadening the perspective to encompass the many facets of creativity and culture to which she made extraordinary contributions. Work extended seamlessly into life, and since her life could not exist without beauty and love of art and culture, each continually shaped the other. Her friendship with Giancarlo Menotti and her bond with the Festival of Spoleto, one of the most important events in Italian and international culture, date back to the late 1970s. The town became a place of the soul for Carla Fendi, a bond that deepened further in 2007 when she established the Carla Fendi Foundation, the instrument through which she chose to reinterpret, in a contemporary way, the role of the modern patron. Through the Foundation Carla Fendi contributed to preserving historical and artistic heritage by funding restorations and redevelopment projects, while also embracing contemporary creativity by promoting the work of artists, directors, and musicians with whom she established lasting relationships of mutual respect and friendship.
Important collaborations were initiated with Italian prestigious institutions like FAI, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, while the revitalized Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, of which the Foundation became Main Partner in 2012, regained the momentum of its early years under the new artistic direction of Giorgio Ferrara. In the same year, Carla Fendi joined the Board of Directors of the Fondazione Festival dei Due Mondi as a representative of the Ministry of Culture, a position that following her passing was assumed by Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi, as President of the Carla Fendi Foundation. Carla Fendi’s love for Spoleto led her in 2010 to undertake an important collaboration with the Municipality for the restoration of the historic Teatro Caio Melisso. Upon completion of the works in 2015, the theatre was dedicated to her and is now officially known as Teatro Caio Melisso Carla Fendi. In recognition of this act of patronage, the Municipality of Spoleto also awarded her honorary citizenship.
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Carla Fendi herself designated her niece, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi, to succeed her as President of the Foundation upon her passing in 2017. Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi brings with her a rich creative background, having been born and raised immersed in the atmosphere of the family atelier during years when fashion and the Fendi brand were experiencing extraordinary growth. It was an environment that provided great inspiration, enriching her formative years. She pursued studies in the humanities and, after completing several internships in New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, joined Fendi in the late 1970s, working alongside her aunt Carla in managing the brand’s communication and image. She collaborated closely with the maison’s designer Karl Lagerfeld, focusing her interests particularly on cultural events. From the mid-1980s, she was entrusted with the direction of communication, advertising, and image for Fendissime, the brand’s young line, a role in which she left a distinctive mark, shaped by her passion for research, her taste for discovery, and an innate sense of contemporaneity. These qualities led her to develop projects and seek collaborations with some of the most innovative artists and designers of the period, while establishing strong relationships with the most forward-looking fashion and art press. Alongside her work within the company, she also pursued individual collaborations in the creation of costumes for cinema, opera, and theatre, working, among others, with the historic theatrical costume atelier Tirelli and with playwright and writer Giorgio Pressburger.
When Carla Fendi established the Foundation in 2007, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi immediately joined its Board of Directors, consolidating the close relationship she had shared over the years with her aunt, based on common interests and goals. Upon assuming the Presidency in 2017, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi spearheaded a significant expansion of the Foundation’s mission, to include science and technology. "We are living in a moment of epochal change, in which technological advancement directly impacts everything and everyone," she states. "Many artists today use and draw inspiration from technology, interacting with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and algorithms. Science, moreover, increasingly studies phenomena created by humans themselves, such as climate change, issues with not only environmental, but also economic and social consequences that cannot be ignored. The contribution of science is crucial." Regarding the relationship between art and science, she declares:
"I have a background in the humanities and am deeply fascinated by creative thinking, but through my interactions with various scientists, I have realized that scientific thought also relies on creativity and abstraction. Art and science do not belong to parallel, separate universes, they are different expressions of human creativity." Among the first initiatives undertaken by the Foundation to implement this vision was the transformation of the Carla Fendi Award, awarded annually during the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, into the Carla Fendi STEAM Award (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics). Among the recipients of this prize, which includes a financial contribution to support their scientific work, are Nobel laureate physicists Peter Higgs and François Englert, as well as CERN Director Fabiola Gianotti. Following her aunt’s example, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi also serves on the Board of Directors of the Spoleto Festival Foundation, representing the Ministry of Culture.
