Cinema

Set designer Gianni Quaranta, Oscar winner for Room with a View, dies

Quaranta, who was also a director and costume designer, had a long career straddling both sides of the ocean, between Rome, Milan, New York and Los Angeles. He has worked for film, advertising, drama and opera.

14 September 2025

2' min read

Set designer Gianni Quaranta, Oscar winner for James Ivory's 'Room with a View', has died in Rome. He had recently turned 82.

The news was confirmed to Ansa by his daughter Guja.

Quaranta, who was also a director and costume designer, had a long career straddling both sides of the ocean, between Rome, Milan, New York and Los Angeles. He has worked for film, advertising, drama and opera.

Besides his 1987 victory, he was nominated twice more for an Oscar: in 1972 for 'Brother Sun, Sister Moon', his first film, and in 1983 for 'La traviata', both directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

He also won a César, the most prestigious film award in France, for 'Farinelli - Queen's Voice'. Therefore, when Ivory came to Italy to shoot his costume drama, he wanted him in the team.

Born in Arsiè, in the mountains of Belluno, he came to Milan to study fine arts at the Brera Academy. After graduating, he moved to Rome, where he began working for the theatre, alongside directors such as Luca Ronconi, Giancarlo Menotti, Filippo Crivelli, Mauro Bolognini and, again, Zeffirelli. He intertwined his work on stage with that on the sets of Lina Wertmuller's 'Tutto a posto niente in ordine' and Bernardo Bertolucci's 'Novecento', as well as on every Zeffirelli film.

He was also responsible for the sets for Ermanno Olmi's 'The Legend of the Holy Drinker', François Giroud's 'Three Nice Carrionettes', starring Michel Piccoli, Sylvia Kristel, and Gérard Depardieu, Paul Schrader's 'Courtesies for Guests' with Christopher Walken, Natasha Richardson, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren, to name a few of the productions Quaranta worked on.

He has created the sets for major repertory operas and ballets, debuting at La Scala, La Fenice, the Paris Opéra, then in Vienna, Bonn, Rio de Janeiro, Philadelphia and Chicago.

His set design for Aida at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York was so acclaimed that it is still in use today, after more than 30 continuous years. He leaves behind a producer and director daughter, Guja, and his wife Giuliana.

The funeral will be held on Tuesday 16 September at 11:00 am in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto (Chiesa degli Artisti) in Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

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Set designer Gianni Quaranta, Oscar winner for Room with a View, dies

Quaranta, who was also a director and costume designer, had a long career straddling both sides of the ocean, between Rome, Milan, New York and Los Angeles. He has worked for film, advertising, drama and opera.

Brand connect

I prossimi eventi

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