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The Wellington home with international style

Article by Simply You

After postings in Buenos Aires and New Delhi, the Italian ambassador to New Zealand and his husband have brought their international style to Wellington

The Wellington home with international style

The biggest benefit for those living a peripatetic lifestyle has to be their access to unique pieces and exotic finds, each imbued with its own colourful story. Just ask His Excellency Carmelo Barbarello, Italian ambassador to New Zealand from 2014 to 2016, and his Spanish husband Javier Barca.

Before meeting Barca in Athens in 2002, when he was Italian ambassador to Greece, Barbarello was posted in Ethiopia. Together, they’ve spent the two-to-four year stretches expected of these diplomatic missions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and New Delhi in India.

It goes without saying that prior to arriving in Wellington, the ambassador and the interior decorator were well-versed in the art of collecting special pieces. Over the years, they have also become experts at editing their belongings before shipping them across the ocean to furnish – and often refurbish – their temporary new home.

 

Words by: Nadine Rubin Nathan. Photography by: Simon Devitt.

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