The Bride Wore Oscar de La Renta to Her Wedding at a Neo-Gothic Mansion in Italy

Travel and lifestyle writer Nneya Richards was temporarily living in London for “work and fun” during the fall of 2017 when she first met Michele Scaglione, an entrepreneur who heads up development at his family’s eponymous knitwear company. “He went to the same business school in Milan as friends of mine, and we were at the same party,” Nneya remembers. “We didn’t speak at the party, but then our paths crossed via Hinge, and after a few dates, we began seeing each other.” Nneya traveled back to New York soon after, but Michele insisted she eventually return to London. “And he likes to say I convinced him to move back to Italy,” Nneya adds. “[But,] I won’t take full responsibility for that.”

Michele eventually proposed in Taormina, Sicily on June 25, 2022—a day after Nneya’s birthday. “We usually travel for my birthday, and he had planned to propose in a hot air balloon in Cappadocia,” she says. “I didn’t know this, of course, and at the last minute, I announced that I wanted to go to Calabria for my birthday because I was working on a story on the best places to visit in Italy for Grazia, and Calabria is definitely more off-the-beaten-path.”

Michele, ever the romantic, apparently scrambled to book a flight to Calabria, but found a silver lining when they were forced to go through Catania, Sicily, which is very close to Taormina—the beautiful and romantic hillside Italian town where the second season of The White Lotus was recently filmed. 

“On our first morning, we were exploring the Teatro Antico, and Michele was wearing cargo shorts so that he could carry the ring—which I thought was strange, but I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable with his fashion choices, so I let it go,” Nneya admits. “He kept wanting us to a higher, more secluded overlook in this ancient Greek amphitheater. He said, ‘Go over there. I’ll shoot you,’ and when I turned around, he was on one knee with the ring. It was kind of windy so between crying and being thrilled, I became very Gollum—‘My ring! my ring!’—and trying to make sure it was on before it blew into the Ionian.”

The wedding was set for August 29, 2022, at Cascina Lago Scuro in Cremona. “The planning really began once we found the venue,” Nneya says. “Which we didn’t really start looking for until the winter of 2021.” While browsing Instagram in February of 2022, Nneya came across Cascina Lago Scuro and immediately emailed them.