Buongiorno and grazie to Michael Imperioli, who has shown us his extremely Old World Italian home and, in doing so, gifted us a college tuition’s worth of knowledge on art, literature, and Christopher Moltisanti. Yes, the Imperioli Architectural Digest home tour is here, and it is surprisingly … familiar? Where have I very recently seen that salt-and-pepper pouf wander about a lavish palazzo decorated with 16th-century busts?
If anything, The White Lotus set was inspired by Imperioli’s home, not the other way around. The apartment is a two-bedroom, but humble it is not. Everywhere the camera pans, there are at least 12 pieces of art and/or antique-furniture in frame. Also making frequent appearances: bookshelves packed with tattered volumes, gilded wallpaper, and marble busts.
Imperioli’s apartment is in New York City, but you wouldn’t know it from the inside, nor would you necessarily know that we are in the 21st century. “There’s no modern art in the house,” Imperioli confidently informs Architectural Digest’s cameramen, who have already lost all his respect by asking who Dante is. Unlike the decadent backdrop of The White Lotus, which proved conducive mostly to scamming, cheating, and murder, Imperioli calls his apartment vibe “transporting” and “comforting.”
Also unlike The White Lotus’s Four Seasons setting: Imperioli’s apartment was largely designed by his wife of 27 years, interior designer and set designer Victoria Imperioli. Inspired by the building’s history as a hotel (again: sounds familiar!), Victoria told the magazine she “just wanted something sexy” when she decorated it in the style of a “beautiful hotel suite.” She also converted a walk-in closet to a “Buddha room” where they meditate together, because why not.
Of course, as I’m sure Imperioli tells his meditation students (he leads classes from his study), one cannot live without balance. Thus the reveal that, after making vegetarian meatballs in his disgustingly cultured home, Imperioli loves nothing more than to settle down, remove the ornate antique screen that hides his TV, and watch his favorite show, American Dad. Or should I say, Padre Americano?