Federico Pratesi and Gaia Leonori Pratesi, the husband-and-wife duo continuing and creating a new legacy of storied home linens
Verderoccia continues to bring more than a century of tradition, craft smanship and luxury linens into your most personal spaces.
If you miss Pratesi, the century-old Italian bed-and-bath boutique that retired after spending decades on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach or in Miami’s Bal Harbour Shops, you’re in luck. The luxuriously soft linens have been reincarnated under Verderoccia (verderoccia.com), the next-generation brand led by husband-and-wife team Federico Pratesi and Gaia Leonori Pratesi. “Ever since Pratesi was ‘lost,’ I cherish and think about the many memories with a deep fondness,” says Federico. “I like to think they motivate me, and I sometimes feel that they are one of the pillars on which Verderoccia stands.”
Verderoccia is the artisanal brand reimagining the embroidered linens that made Pratesi synonymous with luxury
The new online endeavor is a destination for embroideries, Jacquards, raffias and cashmere that travel throughout several collections of pillowcases, sheets, blankets, towels, place mats and napkins—all with a nod to their roots but with an eye toward what’s still to come. “I can easily say that what Federico’s ancestors did was truly incredible. They introduced luxury in the bedroom, the innermost part of a person’s house. Verderoccia is effectively an homage to the Pratesi family and the fact that it made history,” Gaia says. “However, it’s also a little gem in our lives—a reference to the past, our purpose for the present and our legacy for the future, to be left to our kids just as Federico’s ancestors did for him.”
Verderoccia’s new Ananas in Neve (Pineapple in the Snow) pillow shams shown in painterly blue and pink with touches of lavender.
We sat down with the couple, who recounted the Pratesi legacy and the new one they’re building, and it was clear their Verderoccia venture couldn’t be talked about without a trip down memory lane. The signature Tuffo collection, for example, with its wavy embroidered motif, recalls the Tuscan bay in Italy where Gaia and Federico first met years ago and where they still return with their family and jump into the water from the sea rock (the word tuffo means dive in Italian). After all, Verderoccia’s brand story isn’t actually about linens. It’s an old-fashioned romance.
Verderoccia’s Dede bed linens, shown in white and sage, were named after Federico’s mother, Dede Pratesi. They feature the brand’s signature embroidery on its new Estremo percale.
GLP: “Many of the artisans we work with are the same as those who worked with the Pratesi family. They saw Federico grow up and they are the same people who would later make tiny clothes as gifts for our children Margherita and Athos. On top of that we welcomed new artisans to our atelier, who proved to be masters of the craftsmanship. We want to differentiate from Pratesi in terms of personalization and custom orders, so we searched far and wide for someone to bring this ingredient to the mix. It’s a different relationship to be sure, but it’s also fun and stimulating to discover new techniques together, or rediscover traditional ones in a sort of complementary learning relationship.”
GLP: “There is a place in Egypt, along the Nile, where an unusual interaction of air, heat and humidity allows the cotton that grows there to be of the finest quality. It is here that our amazing journey begins. After we unearth raw materials, we bring them back to Florence to converge them into a ‘Made in Italy’ atelier piece, with a unique combination of creativity and centuries of know-how. The Verderoccia fabrics are crafted exclusively with extra-long staple cotton yarns, with a very fine count, double-twisted thread in weft and warp. Our new material Estremo is an example of our family’s commitment to quality fabrication and design—its unique threads are made of long, superfine-gauge fibers woven into a crisp but extremely soft finished product.”
The Tuffo bath mats, embroidered with wavy embellishments, reference the seaside place in Tuscany where Federico and Gaia first met.
GLP: “A lot of our patterns have been inspired by memories that sit in our hearts, anecdotes that we love to share—Tuffo, for example, for the place Federico and I met, or Dede in honor of Mrs. Dede Pratesi, Federico’s mother. Our patterns connect directly to our values and, in a way, allow us to tell our story through what we love.”
The Tuffo bath mats, embroidered with wavy embellishments, reference the seaside place in Tuscany where Federico and Gaia first met.
FP: “We are very loyal to the ‘traditional chic,’ but as of late we are seeing so many repetitions of something that maybe was trending in the ’80s. With that in mind, I am absolutely honored that the braid and the three lines are still alive nowadays even if not produced by us; after all, they were both created by my parents so it’s really a treat to know that their legacy is still echoed from this generation. This is to say we cherish the old and welcome the new, so a little bit of modernization, like the one you seen in Graffiti, Berbero and Ananas, is what we look for nowadays, but it’s very unpredictable: Sometimes we will ache for something traditional and our hands will just take us there.”
The Tuffo bath mats, embroidered with wavy embellishments, reference the seaside place in Tuscany where Federico and Gaia first met.
GLP: “Over the years, there has been a pattern of migrating colors during the winter in the bedroom. And we are all for a classic bed sheet and neutral tones for the winter. But we decided to break the stereotype with Ananas and instead dare our connoisseur clients with colors for the winter season. Ananas, which means pineapple in English, is a summer fruit, and that’s exactly the point: It’s lively, fresh, fun and joyful—all elements that we should introduce into our winter lifestyle.”
FP: “Palm Beach was home to us for 45 years with our store on Worth Avenue, and so was Miami. We opened the store in Bal Harbour in the late ’70s, so we effectively stayed in the Bal Harbour Shops for 40 years. That’s a very long time, so for us to say goodbye to such a hospitable home for a lifetime was simply not something we were willing to do. Last March we packed our bags and visited both Palm Beach and Miami for our trunk show. We were kindly hosted by Casa Branca in their beautiful Worth Avenue showroom and store. We felt that Alessandra, being a fellow Italian, understood our goals, values and overall feeling for our new atelier, and so did her son Andrew and his wife Georgia. We had already met Alessandra many years ago—in fact, she and her husband visited the factory and met my mother. I can’t share too much right now, but I can say if you are a fan of Casa Branca or Verderoccia, stay tuned for March 2023. We’ll bring presents.”
Photography by: PORTRAIT BY SUSAN MARIANI; PRODUCT PHOTO COURTESY OF BRAND
