Marta Marzotto, Italian socialite and Guttuso muse, dies at 85

Marta Marzotto, the Italian socialite and former muse to painter Renato Guttuso, died today in a Milan clinic after several days of hospitalization. She was 85. The news was announced via Twitter by her granddaughter Beatrice Borromeo Casiraghi. Born in 1931, Marzotto began as a rice field worker before moving to Milan as a seamstress, where she met her first husband, Umberto Marzotto. She kept his name and title after divorce. Her twenty-year love affair with Guttuso made her a central figure in Italian cultural life. She was muse, confidante, and witness to his career arc, political ties, and personal struggles. Her biography 'Smeraldi a colazione', co-written with Laura Laurenzi, recounts her adventurous life intersecting with Italian culture over six decades. She reinvented herself as a fashion designer for Standa, hosted parties in Rome, Costa Smeralda, and Morocco, and funded restorations through a women's club in Venice. She organized charity events, insisting true charity be done secretly. She celebrated her 85th birthday in February with a party in Cortina organized by gallerists Stefano and Riccarda Contini.