Sparkling Truth

Vincent Meylan is so much more than a journalist. He is a passionate researcher, a historian and a romantic at heart. His latest book is a testament of his love for all things fine. Published by Télémaque, Bulgari, les trésors de Rome is the fourth in a series of books that Vincent has devoted to this great house of European jewellery. The saga began in 2009 with Archives secrètes de Boucheron.

The author has mastered the art of perfection in this book, which is not about the founder of Bulgari or the descendants. It is, but, a gallery of portraits that connect, with ease, the big and small moments in history. A true literary creation, it is halfway between a collection of stories and an Italian comedy. The women in it are truly phenomenal: Dorothy Di Frasso, a mondaine pasionara determined to kill Mussolini; Victoria Eugénie of Spain, a queen determined to take back control of her romantic life, Ingrid Bergman suffering because of the ferocious disapproval of American critics to her ties with Roberto Rossellini; Liz Taylor and Anna Magnani as utterly explosive personalities.

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Vincent has understood that the glory and prestige of a piece of jewellery lies in both the details of its creation and a study of those who ordered and wore it. Once the book ends, one thing becomes crystal clear that the clients of Bulgari do not choose their jewellery at random. Each of them has felt, with deep intensity, the pleasure of existing and a joie de vivre. Disappointed they were, at times, by the severe judgement of their contemporaries but it goes without saying that they were truly free women.

From the February 2018 issue of L’Officiel India.