Prince Dimitri jewelry

27/02/2026

My great‑grandmother, Queen Elena of Italy, tried to stop the world from going up in flames.
In late 1939, as war had just broken out, she secretly wrote to six royal women in still‑neutral Europe, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, Queen Ioanna of Bulgaria (her own daughter), and Queen Maria of Yugoslavia—asking them to unite in a women’s appeal for peace, invoking not politics but conscience, motherhood, and the duty to defend civilization itself. She even recalled the historic “Ladies’ Peace” of 1529—when two royal women, Margaret of Austria and Louise of Savoy, personally negotiated an end to a brutal conflict—as a precedent for what queens and mothers could still dare to do.
Her letter was part of a life defined not only by rank but by service. My great‑grandmother was twice awarded the Vatican’s highest distinction, the Golden Rose, in recognition of her countless acts of charity and mercy toward the poor, the wounded, and the displaced. Today, a formal procedure for her beatification is underway in the Vatican, reflecting how many people remember her not only as a queen, but as a woman of profound faith and compassion.
Nothing concrete came of her 1939 appeal—no diplomatic breakthrough, no joint royal initiative that could divert the course of the war. Yet this forgotten episode reveals a queen who, even within the constraints of her time and regime, tried to mobilize a transnational sisterhood of queens and mothers against the logic of war.

24/02/2026

Central park this afternoon as the blizzard was slowly dropping its last flakes, having decided to retreat. And I told myself that happiness is perhaps this: a winter afternoon where nothing insists, where everything is soft, and the fresh snow grants you a very special privilege : to hear the sound of silence.

20/02/2026

My grandfather Umberto then Crown Prince of Italy and Prince of Piedmont in a uniform of the royal cuirassiers created especially for him.
Kindness personified he was a man of encyclopedic knowledge about philosophy, history and art. We all adored him and always spent Easter with him in Portugal. A devout Catholic he had become a friend of Pope John Paul II and in his will he left him the holy shroud of Turin that had been in the family since 1453. In 1983 I went to Rome with my mother and my uncles and aunts to present the Pope that amazing gift. We were received in private audience.
🇮🇹❤️

13/02/2026

Once upon a time, there was a polite little ring with a 2.05 carat very nice Burmese ruby that was exiled in the draw of unworn jewels. One day, it was brought to me by the owner with the idea of giving it a new life. And here it is, set in a sold block of sanguine jasper also known as blood stone or Heliotrope , a very popular stone from Renaissance times on… because it is hexagonal I had the top of the ring in the same shape and added three hexagons around it.

31/01/2026

27/01/2026

The enchanting temple of Khnum Located in Esna, about 60 km south of Luxor, right in the middle of the modern town.

Construction began under the Ptolemaic dynasty (3rd–2nd century BC) and continued under Roman emperors, including Claudius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.

• The temple is dedicated to Khnum, the ram-headed creator god who, according to Egyptian belief, fashioned humanity on a potter’s wheel and controlled the annual flooding of the Nile, essential for life.

Beneath a Roman sky carved in stone, the god Khnum still turns his potter’s wheel, shaping life as the Nile once rose and fell at his command. Columns rise like bundled papyrus, immense and gentle at once—and no two are the same.
Look closely at their crowns: each capital blooms differently. Lotus, palm, papyrus, flowers never repeated symbolizing that Egypt was not merely a land, it was the most beautiful garden in the world—the garden of the gods, where every flower in the world was found.

For centuries this temple slept beneath the modern town, its colors hidden, protected by dust and darkness. Today, blues return to the sky of the ceiling, reds breathe again, greens awaken—like a dream remembered after two thousand years.

Here, Rome speaks the language of Egypt.

25/01/2026

Philae

Today I stepped into a dream on the Nile at the temple of Philae, the last great sanctuary of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, now reborn on the island of Agilkia after its rescue from the rising waters of Aswan.
Bathed in soft morning light, the first pylon rose before me like a stone tapestry, its towering reliefs still whispering the myth of Isis reviving Osiris and nursing the child Horus, a timeless ode to love, loss, and rebirth.
I wandered through colonnades where no two capitals are alike, past the delicate Birth House of Horus and the graceful Kiosk of Trajan, feeling the layers of Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, and early Christian devotion unfold in every carved surface.
Knowing that this entire complex was dismantled stone by stone and moved to safety in the 1960s, so that its stories would not disappear beneath the Nile, made it even more fascinating .
If Isis is the guardian of magic and memory, then Philae is her living chapel on the Nile.

25/01/2026

Philae

Today I stepped into a dream on the Nile at the temple of Philae, the last great sanctuary of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, now reborn on the island of Agilkia after its rescue from the rising waters of Aswan.
Bathed in soft morning light, the first pylon rose before me like a stone tapestry, its towering reliefs still whispering the myth of Isis reviving Osiris and nursing the child Horus, a timeless ode to love, loss, and rebirth.
I wandered through colonnades where no two capitals are alike, past the delicate Birth House of Horus and the graceful Kiosk of Trajan, feeling the layers of Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, and early Christian devotion unfold in every carved surface.
Knowing that this entire complex was dismantled stone by stone and moved to safety in the 1960s, so that its stories would not disappear beneath the Nile, made it even more fascinating .
If Isis is the guardian of magic and memory, then Philae is her living chapel on the Nile.

24/01/2026

The giants of Abu Simbel. Pure magic!

In the deep south of Egypt, Ramesses II ordered two temples to be cut directly from living rock as a declaration of divine power and love. Construction is usually dated roughly to 1264–1244 BC and took about twenty years.

Four colossal figures of the pharaoh, 21 meters (65 feet) tall sit in eternal stillness, each taller than a modern building, guarding a sanctuary aligned with the sun itself. The temple runs about 56 m (185 ft) into the rock through successive halls to a sanctuary containing four seated figures: Ptah, Amun‑Ra, the deified Ramesses, and Ra‑Horakhty. Because of its orientation, twice a year, sunlight penetrates the entire length of the temple to light three of the four figures; . Only Ptah, god of the underworld, remains untouched by light.

Beside this monument to power stands something rarer: a temple of devotion dedicated to the goddess Hathor and to Queen Nefertari, Ramesses II’s Great Royal Wife.
Here, Queen Nefertari appears not reduced, but equal—her statue the same height as the king’s. Dedicated to Hathor, goddess of love and harmony, it is one of the most extraordinary tributes ever made to a woman in ancient Egypt.

From 1964 to 1968, when rising waters threatened to erase this miracle, the world came together. The temples were cut into approximately 1042 massive blocks and reassembled 200 metres to the north-west on ground approximately 65 metres higher than their original position.
Due to their historical significance, the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae were inscribed on UNESCO’S World Heritage List in 1979.

24/01/2026

The giants of Abu Simbel. Pure magic!

In the deep south of Egypt, Ramesses II ordered two temples to be cut directly from living rock as a declaration of divine power and love. Construction is usually dated roughly to 1264–1244 BC and took about twenty years.

Four colossal figures of the pharaoh, 21 meters (65 feet) tall sit in eternal stillness, each taller than a modern building, guarding a sanctuary aligned with the sun itself. The temple runs about 56 m (185 ft) into the rock through successive halls to a sanctuary containing four seated figures: Ptah, Amun‑Ra, the deified Ramesses, and Ra‑Horakhty. Because of its orientation, twice a year, sunlight penetrates the entire length of the temple to light three of the four figures; . Only Ptah, god of the underworld, remains untouched by light.

Beside this monument to power stands something rarer: a temple of devotion dedicated to the goddess Hathor and to Queen Nefertari, Ramesses II’s Great Royal Wife.
Here, Queen Nefertari appears not reduced, but equal—her statue the same height as the king’s. Dedicated to Hathor, goddess of love and harmony, it is one of the most extraordinary tributes ever made to a woman in ancient Egypt.

From 1964 to 1968, when rising waters threatened to erase this miracle, the world came together. The temples were cut into approximately 1042 massive blocks and reassembled 200 metres to the north-west on ground approximately 65 metres higher than their original position.
Due to their historical significance, the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae were inscribed on UNESCO’S World Heritage List in 1979.

23/01/2026

Fascinating visit to the mysterious Kom Ombo Temple.

As we sail to Aswan we stop in front of the temple dedicated to two deities: the crocodile god Sobek, and the falcon god Har wer (Horus the Elder).

Kom Ombo is a double temple, with twin sanctuaries and mirrored spaces dedicated on one side to Sobek, the crocodile god of fertility and creation, accompanied by Hathor and Khonsu.
• The other side is dedicated to Haroeris (Horus the Elder), a falcon god associated with kingship and protection, giving the site epithets like “House of the Crocodile” and “Castle of the Falcon.”

The design is almost perfectly symmetrical along a central axis: there are two entrances, two courts, two hypostyle halls, and two main sanctuaries, one for each divine triad

There is also a marvelous little crocodile museum with wonderful statues and rather scary crocodile mummies.

23/01/2026

Fascinating visit to the mysterious Kom Ombo Temple.

As we sail to Aswan we stop in front of the temple dedicated to two deities: the crocodile god Sobek, and the falcon god Har wer (Horus the Elder).

Kom Ombo is a double temple, with twin sanctuaries and mirrored spaces dedicated on one side to Sobek, the crocodile god of fertility and creation, accompanied by Hathor and Khonsu.
• The other side is dedicated to Haroeris (Horus the Elder), a falcon god associated with kingship and protection, giving the site epithets like “House of the Crocodile” and “Castle of the Falcon.”

The design is almost perfectly symmetrical along a central axis: there are two entrances, two courts, two hypostyle halls, and two main sanctuaries, one for each divine triad

There is also a marvelous little crocodile museum with wonderful statues and rather scary crocodile mummies.