Alain Elkann Interviews

HISTORIAN OF THE ARABS. Professor Eugene Rogan is Director of the Middle East Centre at St Antony's College, University of Oxford. He has a B.A. in economics from Columbia, and an M.A. and PhD in Middle Eastern history from Harvard. Among many other titles, he is author of The Arabs: A History which has been translated into 18 languages and was named one of the best books of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. "The Arab peoples were never reconciled to being colonised by the British and French." "The idea of united Arabs has been enormously appealing to Arab peoples right through the 20th century." "Almost all the governments right through the Middle East are nation states governed by constitutions. The opposition is Islamist, but not the form of government."

VISIONARY IN DESIGN. Clémence and Didier Krzentowski founded Galerie kreo in 1999. Today Galerie kreo is located in a very beautiful building in 31 rue Dauphine in the centre of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It is a gallery of 20th and 21st century design and they are preparing a very important exhibition that will take place at Christie's in Paris from January 14 to January 28, 2026, when they will present the masterpieces of their collection, 65 iconic pieces from the gallery. "We call ourselves a research laboratory, because the idea is not to produce just another chair or table, but to give the designers a possibility to produce a complete collection and exhibition." "That's what interests us most of all: not seeing the object first, but having designers share with us what they are thinking." "We are lucky we're working with people who are so talented and who surprise us each time."

INTIMATE DIALOGUES WITH ANTONELLO DA MESSINA. Marco Delogu is an acclaimed Italian photographer, publisher, and cultural director whose work focuses on portraits of groups sharing common languages and experiences. He served a successful four year term as the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London from 2015 to 2019, noted for his innovative approach as the first photographer leading such an institute. Since 2022 Delogu is President of the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, an instrumental body of the city of Rome that manages an integrated system of cultural spaces and events, capable of reaching a large and attentive audience. "Antonello was in my mind, so I photographed four Antonello paintings, starting with L'Annunciata di Palermo." "If you want to get into these two pictures, you have to enter and then to get away from these eyes." "I want to finish my work with Antonello da Messina and then I just want to go on and be open."

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE VOYAGE. Simone Fattal is a Lebanese-American artist. Born in 1942 in Damascus, she was educated in Beirut and Paris, studying philosophy at the École des Lettres and the Sorbonne, as well as archaeology at the École du Louvre. Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan (1925–2021) were life partners for 49 years, artists who shared a profound creative, political, and personal connection. Their multidisciplinary work spans painting, sculpture, poetry, and publishing. "We have to ask the women prisoners to write the poems. Which they did, and I transcribed them on the surfaces of the lava." "My inspiration doesn't come from artists. When I'm working, poetic verses come to my mind." "I'm not displaced, but a traveler."

COMMITTED TO DIALOGUE. Riccardo Di Segni is the Chief Rabbi of Rome and director of the Italian Rabbinical School since 2001. He is a retired medical doctor specializing in radiology, and as Vice President of the National Committee for Bioethics (Comitanto Nazionale per la Bioetica) in Italy combines his rabbinical duties with his background in medicine. Di Segni is an author whose work focuses on religious, historical, and cultural aspects of Jewish life. "Despite everything, Judaism endures." "It is the world that is changing, not just Israel." "My mother always told me, 'It's difficult to be Jewish.' It is a very demanding religion that regulates every moment of existence."

THE GOLDEN FLEECE OF ZEGNA. Ermenegildo "Gildo" Zegna is Chairman and CEO of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, founded in 1910 as a textile company by his grandfather and namesake in Trivero, Italy. Under his leadership, the Group has strengthened its position in high-end menswear and has grown into one of the leading global companies in the luxury sector. In 2011, Zegna was awarded the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Labour) by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. In 2021, the Ermenegildo Zegna Group was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. "Our vertically integrated "sheep-to-shop" model is unique in luxury. Next year, over 60% of our products will be made in-house." "Personalization is increasingly important: people want something unique and delivered fast." "We are not a conglomerate, but a strong group of luxury brands led by a team that protects our authenticity and unique approach."

José Tolentino de Mendonça is a theologian, university professor, and one of the most original voices in modern Portuguese. Born in the island of Madeira in 1965, today he is Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, an administrative unit of the Roman Curia. He is Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology and a Bishop since 2018. From 2018 to 2022 he was Librarian of the Holy Roman Church. He was made a Cardinal in October 2019. "The common thread running through my story is the importance of attention to culture, dialogue, and the power of knowledge and science." "This is a time when the desire for peace, the stubborn search for a path of peace, should be the primary concern of contemporary culture and society." "My vision as a man of the church, as a believer, as a Christian, is ultimately a poetic vision and ends up being my way of inhabiting reality."

MPERIAL PLAY. Giuliano da Empoli was born in 1973. He is an Italian and Swiss writer and political scientist living in France. He was a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His debut novel The Wizard of the Kremlin became an international bestseller and was translated into 35 languages. A 2025 film version stars Jude Law as Vladimir Putin. His latest book The Hour of the Predator is currently France's best-selling non-fiction title. "These characters could originate from a Machiavelli book or a Roman history book." "The predator's political miracle is bypassing rules and laws, transgressing and wiping out the system as we know it to impact the problem that nobody could solve." "I'm a very strong pro-European and I want a European Federation. I want Europe to be politically united."

A JOURNEY THROUGH JOURNALISM. Mishal Husain is a celebrated British journalist who joined Bloomberg from the BBC, where she presented its leading news programme Today on BBC Radio 4 for over a decade. Before joining Today in 2013, she was an anchor on the international news channel BBC World News. In 2024 she was awarded the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism by the British Journalism Review. Mishal has written a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller family memoir, Broken Threads: A Family From Empire to Independence, and The Skills: How to Win at Work. "The Elon Musk interview is amongst the most difficult that I've done." "I've realised that we are now, perhaps increasingly, again in an age of division." "I hope that in one way or another we still have people who are going to search for the forgotten, overlooked stories."

MODERN ARCHITECT. Sean Griffiths is Professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster and former Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University. His current architecture and design practice Modern Architect was founded in 2014 and has worked largely on residential, commercial and public art projects. Previously Sean Griffiths was a founding director of the internationally renowned art/architecture practice FAT, where he won many design awards. FAT represented the UK at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014. "I was really thinking I would pursue a career as an artist" "The idea that you make architecture as a sort of branding jewel that you place in a city is not something that I particularly love" "We use language to help us navigate the world, and architecture also creates patterns that help us navigate the world"

PHOTOGRAPHER MONK. Nicholas Vreeland, also known as Rato Khensur Thubten Lhundup, is a Tibetan Buddhist monk and the former abbot of Rato Dratsang, an important 14th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery reestablished in India. The first and only Westerner the Dalai Lama has appointed Abbot of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, he is a photographer who learned his craft as an assistant to Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. "Once you are a monk, you may receive a teaching from a holy being, a lama or master, on techniques by which you can cultivate concern for others and diminish self-cherishing." "The real person whom I have to remain vigilant over is myself." "The emphasis should be on being a good person."

EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY. Ruthie Rogers CBE is an American and British chef who owns and runs the Michelin starred Italian restaurant The River Café in Hammersmith, London. She is the widow of the Italian-born British architect Richard Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside, who together with Renzo Piano created the Pompidou Centre in Paris. “I always want somebody to come to the River Cafe and leave happier than they arrived.” “A lot of immigrants talk about the food of their grandmothers, because very often the mothers adapt and the grandmothers retain the cooking of their country of birth.” “I’m really proud of this beautiful book when I hand it to somebody. The fact that it’s called Squeeze Me is sexy and fabulous.”

REVOLUTIONALIZING FASHION IN MILAN. Coco Brandolini was nobly born in France. An Italian fashion executive, artist and designer, in 2022 she launched her own brand called d’AddA and established it in a charming apartment on Via Montenapoleone in Milano. She describes her enterprise as a joyous ode to her heritage transformed into limited edition pieces made from upcycled materials. “The craftsmanship is superb. Milano is the most interesting and efficient city for me to work. Everything is here.” “Clients love that each piece is almost unique.” “If a woman is comfortable with the clothing she’s wearing so she can sit the way she wants, so she’s not contrived, to me that’s what is attractive.”

GLOBALLY RELEVANT DESIGN. JENNIFER ROBERTS became the Chief Executive Officer of Design Miami, the global forum for collectible design, in 2015. She has introduced several new verticals for the company including Design Miami Curatorial Lab, a strategic consultancy to help businesses build cultural capital. In addition, Roberts successfully launched Design Miami.Paris and developed new event formats including Podium and In Situ. Born and raised in Manhattan, schooled in London, she has a residence in the unspoiled jungles of Ilha Grande, Brazil. “The interior design market comes through Paris.” “All of the great architects have done furniture.” “There’s no higher bar than impressing the French in design or creativity or fashion.”

INSCRIBING IDEAS TO MEMORY. Amos Gitai is an Israeli film-maker, internationally known for his documentaries and feature films about the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and personal and collective memory. Born in Haifa, Israel in 1950, Gitai was wounded during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when a medical evacuation helicopter in which he was travelling was hit by a Syrian missile. He has drawn on biographical, familial and generational themes throughout his career, as well as the trauma of war and the celebration of life in the face of adversity. “You have to inscribe some ideas in memory” “We have to always take into account the other, because if we will only think about us it will never bring reconciliation” “The human answer to mechanical reproduction is to propose a non-linear association that AI cannot predict”

ART FOR PUBLIC PURPOSE. Dr Caroline Campbell was born and educated in Belfast, and became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in 2022. She studied Modern History at University College Oxford, and has an MA and PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. A former Fellow of the Center for Curatorial Leadership, New York, before joining the National Gallery of Ireland, Caroline was Director of Collections and Research at the National Gallery, London. Earlier in her career she held curatorial positions at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Courtauld Gallery, London, and the National Gallery. Caroline has published widely on European art from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, particularly on the Italian Renaissance, most recently Mantegna & Bellini and 14 Century Siena. “The Taking of Christ is an absolutely astonishing painting because of the moment of drama in it, and that, as much as the name Caravaggio, is what really excites our visitors.” “Irish art is really strong, but it is much less known outside of Ireland. I would love people to be able to appreciate it more, as part of the more widespread European and Western tradition.” “I love the connection that people have with the gallery.”

COSINESS NEVER GOES OUT OF FASHION. Antonio Monfreda is an Italian art director and curator who has become a defining figure in the worlds of design, photography, and art direction. As international editor of Martina Mondadori’s Cabana Magazine since 2016, from the very first issue he turned his talent to the photography of interiors and lifestyle. Monfreda’s new book Tuscan Rooms: Interiors from the Heartland of the Renaissance, published by Rizzoli International Publications and Cabana, is an exclusive look into Tuscan interiors that has the hallmarks of Cabana Magazine’s coverage of remarkable, eclectic, and dramatic spaces. “Tuscany is the biggest garden of Italy” “It’s as if everything was there since ever” “Recently I discovered that the word ARTISAN has inside it the word ART!! Like an artist!!”

A VISION OF TRANSFORMATION. Explore the impact of Maja Hoffmann on contemporary culture through her LUMA Foundation and innovative art projects. Maja Hoffmann is a Swiss art collector and patron. The Founder and President of LUMA Foundation, she has led the development of LUMA Arles in Provence, an important international cultural project. By addressing urgent issues in culture, nature, scientific experimentation and ecology, she has promoted new structures for innovation and positive change. Her efforts have earned LUMA widespread recognition for its diverse projects and artistic programs. Appointed President of Locarno Film Festival in 2023, Maja Hoffmann is the President of the Swiss Institute, New York (USA) and the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles (France), the Vice-President of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation, Basel (Switzerland), and serves on the boards of Serpentine Galleries, London (UK), Kunsthalle Zürich (Switzerland), the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, both in New York (USA). “I was called a utopist, but I was always seeing the reality of what I can do.” “I love to ride horses and to come to Arles on Saturdays, drink pastis with the men and genuinely try to say what I believe in and think. “I’d like to see a change in the mentalities that allows a real movement, because I think we are here and now in the capacity of changing things.”

TOWARDS THE ULTIMATE GALLERY. Thaddaeus Ropac is an Austrian born gallerist specializing in international contemporary art. He founded the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in 1981, and today he represents more than 70 artists with galleries located in Salzburg, Le Marais and Pantin in Paris, London and Seoul. In September 2025 he will open his new 280 m2 space in Palazzo Belgioioso in Milan, with a show titled Georg Baselitz and Lucio Fontana, L’aurora viene (The Dawn is Coming). “Milan is the heartbeat of Italian art making.” “We represent around 70 artists and estates.” “I was able to help some incredible collectors to build their collections over the last decades.”

PASSION COMES WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE. André Aciman is an Italian-American writer. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, he is the New York Times bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name, Out of Egypt, Eight White Nights, False Papers, Alibis, Harvard Square, Enigma Variations, Homo Irrealis, Roman Year, and Find Me. He is currently a distinguished professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he teaches the history of literary theory and the works of Marcel Proust. Aciman is the editor of The Proust Project. He lives with his wife Susan Wiviott in Manhattan. His latest book Room on the Sea was recently published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. “My entire life has been one of displacement” “I’ve always been a very hesitant lover” “I am not interested in the towels and the sheets.”