Five things you didn't know about Gucci Heiress, Patrizia Reggiani

 Filming for Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci biopic is finally underway in Italy, and dear God the photographs are glorious: Lady Gaga and Adam Driver in a ski chalet in the Alps; Lady Gaga feeding Adam Driver a pastry the size of an Olympic discus; Lady Gaga and Adam Driver ducking into a vintage Fiat. In case you somehow missed the buzz, Scott’s drama will revisit the case of Patrizia Reggiani, who tasked a hitman with murdering her ex-husband, Gucci heir Maurizio Gucci, in 1995, after he abandoned her for his younger lover – but not before their ultra glamorous lifestyle had made the couple world-famous. In honour of Gaga’s transformation into the so-called Black Widow, Vogue revisits the most outrageous stories about the convicted murderess through the years.

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Even in the generally flashy ’70s, the Guccis’ lavishness made headlines. Following their marriage in 1973, the pair regularly decamped to their chalet in St Moritz, their 9,000-square-foot 5th Avenue penthouse in Manhattan’s Olympic Tower, or their 64-metre-long wooden yacht, The Creole. That’s before mentioning their villa in Acapulco, Mexico, their farm in rural Connecticut, or their various private islands dotted around the world. The license plates on their innumerable cars read “Mauizia” – the original couple name – while Patrizia spent more than £8,000 a month on orchids alone. Then there were the themed “colour” parties that she regularly held for her glittering circle, which included the Kennedys, where the clothes, décor, and food were all of a single hue – orange being her favourite.

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After her conviction for her role in Maurizio’s murder, Patrizia received a 29-year prison sentence. “I slept a lot,” she told The Guardian of her incarceration. “I took care of my plants. I looked after Bambi, my pet ferret.” According to Reggiani, her lawyer negotiated her right to have Bambi with her in her cell, a special privilege. This ultimately proved less than ideal for the ferret, who died after one of her fellow inmates sat on him. Fortunately (or not), she seems to have found another animal companion. Almost immediately after leaving prison in 2016, she headed to Milan’s equivalent of Bond Street, Via Monte Napoleone, wearing dark sunglasses and lashings of gold jewellery, while a pet macaw perched on her shoulder. She can still be spotted around the city’s more upscale neighbourhoods with the parrot most weekends.

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