Carla Fendi was born in Rome on 12 July 1937, the fourth of the five Fendi sisters. In the mid-1950s, Carla went to the medieval town of Piancastagnaio, in the province of Siena, to spend the summer and treat a bad case of rheumatic fever, where she met Candido Speroni.
Candido was born in Piancastagnaio on 3 November 1930. He is the young son of Dr Osvaldo Speroni, a pharmacist in Piancastagnaio for fifty years – from 1923 to 1972 – a man of refined culture, especially music, who graduated in piano at the Accademia Chigiana in 1921 under the tutelage of Alfredo Casella and with a diploma signed by Pietro Mascagni. His mother, Graziella Scarpini, was the village primary school teacher.
In this place, rich in history, woods and good air, Carla and Candido exchanged glances for days until he declared himself, true love at first sight, as they would often say. After that, they never left each other’s side.
Soon afterwards, Candido moved to Rome with Carla so that they could both work in the family’s company, Fendi.
They married on 19 April 1960, in the Basilica of Saints Bonifacio and Alessio, on the Aventine.
During their life together, Carla and Candido dedicated themselves to numerous charitable and patronage activities. To name just a few, they financed and oversaw the restoration of the historic Caio Melisso Theatre in Spoleto, a city with which they had a deep affinity and of which Carla was made an honorary citizen in 2015. When Candido died on 2 November 2013, Carla did not forget their beloved Piancastagnaio, where she personally financed and supervised the restoration of the ancient Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta.