Retired Milanese ballerina Carla Fracci spoke to Corriere this weekend about her rent stresses: "Nessun favore, pago 4.300 euro al mese". We've all been there.
She continues: "Rent is our ruin, a huge weight for our family. We pay 4300 euro a month [about $$6,000.00 USD], and it really isn't a privilege."
If you think it's a lot of benjamins, check out the address: La Fracci lives on Via della Spiga, one of Milan's most exclusive streets, closed-off to traffic, where the city's super-lux boutiques are found. If Fracci needs to borrow a cup of sugar (or a lemon) she counts neighbors as Dolce & Gabbana, Tod's, Roberto Cavalli, Armani, Prada, and Miu Miu.
She's been there for 16 years with husband Beppe Menegatti in a roughly-2000 square foot apartment (187 meters). La Fracci says she also pays an additional 5300 euro a year ($7,200 USD) for building maintenance.
La Fracci's speaking out on her rent situation because she lives on a street where most apartments are rented out by fashion houses and as an ordinary citizen, it's too easy to forget about renters like her. Also, her apartment is listed on the client roster of Pio Albergo Trivulzio's agency, whose organization is in the middle of a messy inquiry after it was discovered that they created massive rent scandals -- apartments being sold and rented at "special" fixed prices.
Fracci continues that she doesn't think her rent is low but it's becoming a burden. She doesn't want to leave because she's loyal and there are many happy memories in her apartment, both anecdotal and physical. Like, she has the original sketches from the very first La Traviata.
"When it went on stage at La Fenice, Giuseppe Verdi decided to use costumes of the time [contemporary to 1853 when it premiered]. For that reason it was a flop. The next year he decided to dress everyone in clothes from the previous century. We found the sketches and they're hanging in our Milan apartment -- exactly where they should be."
Fracci said when she's in Milan (she splits her time in Rome), she goes often to the cemetery to visit the graves of her parents. Her son has a part time, unpaid teaching position at Milan's Politecnico. She wants to keep the apartment so she's going back to work in Milan.