As the body of Valentino Garavani was honored under the Michelangelo-designed altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome, an imposing 60-year-old man moved solemnly through the pews. Oscar Garavani carried himself like someone who believed he belonged there. While familiar to photographers, he was a stranger to Valentino’s family.
© PIERRE VERDYIn the 1980s, Garavani’s tall frame, green eyes, and long blond hair earned him the nickname “the Viking of Rome.” Four decades later, he has reemerged, not on runways or front rows, but at the center of Italian high society and in a battle over what he claims is his birthright. He says that Garavani is more than just a shared surname and that he's an heir to Valentino’s inheritance.
Born in Dolce Vita–era Rome, Garavani's life reads like a prime-time soap. “I chose modeling because I traveled and made a lot of money—I was barely a kid,” he said, as reported by our sister website HOLA! Spain. For nearly 30 years, he walked on the runways of leading brands like Armani, Versace, Ferré, and Valentino.
© @oscargaravaniGaravani originally claimed he was the son of Valentino’s brother. No records support that story, though. “I never asked my uncle for favors. I wanted to make my own way,” he said. But the story took hold, opening up doors for him and helping him find success as a model and as a New York–based agent in fashion, communications, and marketing. In 2020, he bought a 50% stake in Pelletteria Modigliani, a historic leather factory near Naples, to launch his own handbag line.
For years, no one publicly challenged him. That changed after Valentino’s death on January 19. Garavani’s appearance at the former Baths of Diocletian, the site of the funeral, was interpreted by the official family as a provocation.
Piero Villani's firm response
The response was swift and severe. In a full-page statement published by Il Corriere della Sera titled “The Maestro’s Family,” the designer’s nephew, Piero Villani, dismantled Oscar's story with clinical precision. Valentino, he wrote, never had brothers, only one sister, Wanda Garavani. Villani concluded that Oscar was nothing more than a “fabricated relative” exploiting a “mere homonym.”
Under scrutiny of genealogy and the press, Oscar’s narrative has begun to unravel. When asked point-blank whether he was the son of Valentino’s brother, he dodged the question. The distinction matters: nephew versus great-nephew can mean millions. His answer was cryptic. He suggested the existence of a “secret brother” of Valentino’s father, unknown to anyone close to the designer for nearly a century. “My grandfather, long deceased, was Valentino’s brother. His name was Oscar too,” he said, despite the absence of official records.
© Ernesto RuscioUnder Italian inheritance law, blood relatives are protected by a mandatory share of the estate. If Oscar proves that his grandfather was Valentino’s brother, he could claim a portion of an empire estimated at $2 billion, including villas on the Appian Way, a Manhattan penthouse, and a French château filled with Picassos. If he were a nephew, the share would be even larger.
Oscar insists he isn’t interested in the money, while hinting that Valentino may have changed his will 18 months before his death under family pressure. “There’s a lot of money, I know, but I never wanted anything. I loved Valentino personally,” he said.
Sources close to Valentino suggest the fortune will follow affection rather than blood, benefiting his life partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, his longtime collaborators, and the “chosen sons” that Valentino raised as family. Still, the mandatory share remains untouchable.
Oscar has promised documentation, but the papers have never arrived. The silence has only fueled doubts about his credibility, especially as his social media mixes questionable honors with diplomatic titles of unclear origin. Sales of his handbag brand may be rising, but what happens when the will is finally read? We’ll know in 15 days.
© Getty Images
