The Tamesis
Italian aristocrat Anna Virginia Visocchi Sanseverino di Marcellinara first met the Fernet Branca family’s Corso Sestini Branca di Romanico during a lunch with friends in Milan. “It was an instant, powerful connection: an exchange of glances and words that made you guess there was something special,” Anna Virginia recalled of their 2019 meeting. “But now is not our moment.”
A year later, the two met again in the same way. “Same place, same energy, no barriers this time,” Anna Virginia said. “We started talking about our passion for traveling to the most remote places in the world, and suddenly I had an unexpected feeling: Corso seemed familiar to me, like someone I’d known forever.” A chance third meeting cemented their future. “A chat turned into a dinner, and a dinner turned into a love affair,” she added.
The following week, Corso invited Anna Virginia to travel to Lugano. “Like a true ‘old-fashioned’ gentleman, he first asked permission from my brother George, who was already his friend,” Anna Virginia said. “Giorgio replied with his characteristic sarcasm: ‘Are you sure? My sister is challenging… Do it at your own risk and peril.’ Corso laughed. From that point on, we never left each other’s side.”
One weekend in late summer, Corso traveled to Belgium with Anna Virginia for a wedding. “Arriving in the beautiful countryside by the lake where we were staying, Corso spotted a small rowboat,” recalls Anna Virginia. “He thought that ‘borrowing’ it without asking anyone was the idea of the century. We left everything on the ground: the phone, the distractions, the world. Just the two of us, the pink sunset and the elegant swans as the perfect addition.” Corso knelt down on one knee alone by the lake, holding in his hand a ruby ring that belonged to his grandmother. Months before, he had asked Anna Virginia’s father for permission. “It was a unique moment: intimate, spontaneous, emotional… and a little dangerous. At the same time, the boat started to float away,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter. The world is there in that meter and a half of water and it’s breathtaking. It’s a perfect moment that I will carry with me forever.”
The bride said the venue decision was “a no-brainer”. “We will be getting married at home, in the 18th century Vesuvian Villa to which I am deeply attached, thanks to the memory of my beloved great-grandmother Lily, a wonderful woman who lived there and made that place a part of my soul.” The Villa Naples is undergoing restoration just in time for the celebration on July 5, 2025. The ceremony will first take place at the New Jesus Church, another place full of history for the bride. “This church, with its rustic appearance and almost suspended atmosphere, was once the palace of Prince Roberto Sanseverino, one of my ancestors,” explains Anna Virginia. “Finding myself in the center of a place so closely connected to my family’s history makes every moment meaningful.”
The bride admits she didn’t always dream of a big wedding, so she asked her mother, Selvaggia Sanseverino di Marcellinara, to take charge of the planning, along with Carolina Pignata Lambert, owner of La Festa by Homeating. “Every time we arrive in Naples [wedding planning] At the appointment, we found my mother engrossed in the preparations, full of ideas, surrounded by hundreds of meters of fabric – tablecloths, napkins, cushions and samples of upholstery,” shares Anna Virginia. “I remember Corso’s surprise when we chose the thread colors to handcraft 400 crochet tablecloths at the Marcellinara family estate, one for each bread plate. We express it this way: every guest is welcomed as warmly as if he or she has stepped into our home. ” Other family members also pitched in to help make the day a success: Corso’s mother Ilaria Branca was invited to provide support, his brother Carlo planned the welcome box, and Giorgio, the bride’s brother, assisted with the music and seating arrangements. “Everyone threw themselves into this collective creation,” shares Anna Virginia.
