Luisa Casati is another Italian figure who is best remembered ambivalently. Her primary claim to fame is being a pre-cursor to today’s Fame Hags: Madonna, Paris Hilton, Lady Gaga and the nouveau-riche trash Kardashians. However, she was quite the a celebrity in Europe during the early Twentieth Century through her parties and obsession with the art being made of her. Art was her attempt at immortality. She was also a vain, selfish person. Even her closest friends called Luisa a megalomaniac.
In her defense, Luisa was a striking figure so she could pull it off. According to Stuff You Missed in History Class, she was six feet tall and put dark makeup around her eyes like a Goth; to me she resembles a Victorian Sixouxsie. Allegedly her look has been recycled in fashion shows over the last 20 years.
On the Italian part, she was only a quarter Italian due to her father being Austrian and her mother being half Austrian-half Italian. King Umberto I gave her father the title of count due to the family’s great wealth. Her marriage to Marchese Camillo Casati Stampa di Soncino was definitely one of convenience because Camillo gained access to the money he needed to keep up appearances while Luisa received the social promotion from Countess to Marchesa. They were only together until the birth of their only child Cristina. Then Luisa took on various boyfriends, sadly one was the poet/author Gabriele D’Annunzio who is considered the father of Italian Fascism. Politics obviously didn’t phase someone as self-centered as her, just keep the poems coming if they were about her.
You’ll have to see more about Luisa’s life through the excellent podcast and an official site covering her life.