WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND WHAT DO YOU DO IN LIFE?M.Hi, I'm Marina, some people also call me 'La Zanzi' or 'Marina della Balera' and I run La Balera dell'Ortica together with my whole family. This year, my twin sister Veronica and I also opened a small Vintage and Second-hand Shop in the heart of our Ortica neighbourhood, called Mazurka.V.Hi, I'm Veronica and ten years ago we opened this magical place: La Balera dell'Ortica with my whole family. Lately, however, I spend most of my time in this equally magical place that Marina and I opened. For me, Mazurka has been a dream come true because I am a 'mercatara' and one of my greatest hobbies and stress-relievers is to go browsing in flea markets. It is one of the things that makes me more serene, even in the moments of greatest sadness!R.Hi my name is Rita, I am Marina and Veronica's Mum. Together we run La Balera dell'Ortica, where I am the Queen of the kitchen!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR FAMILY'S STYLE?M.I grew up in a family in which my mother was always an important reference figure, strong, a great businesswoman. Her way of dressing was quite masculine but with some flair: she often wore long skirts, big boots. She, being a dancer, would then go to extremes: it was common to see her on Sundays in sequined and feathered dance outfits when she competed.My sister Veronica on the other hand is... unique! It's really impossible to wear what Veronica wears with the same carefree and light-heartedness that she flaunts in her style. I call her a Gipsy Radical Crazy Mum: she has a way of combining colours, patterns and fabrics as only she can. Her wardrobe has no seasonality: there is no winter, spring or summer. She is like that: unique!

V.
My sister has a style that I sometimes envy, because it is very refined : she manages to make even a jumpsuit look elegant. For me it's sometimes a bit more difficult, perhaps because I have more marked features than she does (at least I see myself that way). She has this magical power to make everything look enchantingly elegant, with her royal pink complexion. Actually, the colours she doesn't see herself in are the ones I prefer on her: pastels, such as pink, blue and green, in my opinion, are the ones that suit her best. Like me, she is very chameleon-like, but whatever she chooses to wear has the power to make her magical!

When mum was younger, she had the ability to look just as good in both a masculine version and a cool and kitsch one: I vividly remember these gold necklaces full of chunky stones and pearls. I remember this clearly because I loved them. She had the ability of turning plaid blazers and masculine pants into a feminine vibe. She wore checked jackets which she knew how to make very feminine, always paired with masculine cut trousers. Now, with time, she has become more practical and sporty, but always maintaining a well curated natural style.

My eldest daughter (no one would say so, but I have three children, including two-year-old twins whom I enjoy dressing), who at the age of six already has her own well-defined personality - like me - is very practical, but a bit like I was saying about my mum, she also knows how to be feminine when she wants to be. She likes clothes with a rock and roll touch: leather trousers but with an oversized sweater on top, loose striped trousers but with a fitted T-shirt. Sometimes, however, she doesn't care: she is a child who hates shopping and doesn't like to accompany me when I go myself. She already knows how to match everything she finds by herself.

R.
Marina has a slightly more masculine style and is very much a reflection of the younger me. Sometimes she wears suits - I also used to love to wear a jacket and trouser suit. Every time that I see her dressed similarly, I get excited.

I see Veronica as much more feminine; she is more daring with colourful skirts and ankle boots. I also had this phase when I was 20 and through her, I see myself again, especially when she wears suede skirts and boots. Even with her style, it's a thrill, I go back in time.
I am happy to have two daughters like this: twins but very different!

MARINA, WHO HAS INSPIRED YOUR LIFE THE MOST?To me, my mum is the first Style Icon ever! Her unisex way of dressing has always impressed me and I have always loved it.Over time I've moved on to slightly more androgynous characters like Tilda Swinton whom I adore so much, so it could be a character: 'Tilda Mum Rita Swinton'.WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?The colour I absolutely love is dark blue, but the colours I would like to be able to wear with ease are pastels: pink or teal. I don't find this easy to do, but if I can incorporate a hint of dark blue then I get into my comfort zone and it becomes easier!

VERONICA, WHO HAS INSPIRED YOUR LIFE THE MOST?I've never really had a style icon, but I can say that I especially loved Nico from the Velvet Underground and Lykke Li in the early days of her career: when she was tap-dancing in school toilets or performing in the middle of the street with her castanets and heels, carrying her little plant: I adored her with her little bun and her furry shearling coats.WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?Here too it depends a lot on how I wake up in the morning: today for example I would say red! However, I can say which ones I don't like: for example orange is not one I adore, but even here, it all depends on how you combine it. In general I don't have a favourite, I just go through phases.

RITA, WHO HAS INSPIRED YOUR LIFE THE MOST?My icon was my Aunt Veronica; she was always very colourful (with full skirts and loose dresses like my daughter Veronica) but at the same time she knew how to be elegant (like Marina).She was my icon in every sense: both of style and in life.WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?I really like blue, although I often wear black.I associate the colours blue, beige, and soft colours in general with Marina. I associate brighter colours with Veronica.

RITA, DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY ANECDOTE ABOUT MARINA AND VERONICA?One memory I have of them is when we ran another open-air club, the girls must have been 4-5 years old, and spent their time making drawings and then selling them to the elderly people who frequented the dance hall. They used what they earned to buy themselves Barbies - they were really terrible...! They would play outside in the fruit boxes. Another fond memory of my daughters goes back to when my husband and I were dance judges; we had to spend up to 8-10 hours in the dance halls and we took them with us. Marina and Veronica would collect all the feathers and sequins they found and store them in little cheese boxes and take them home.WHAT IS HAVING TWINS LIKE?I was delighted because I had wanted to have children for a long time. I'm happy that I actually had twins!

DO YOU HAVE A FUNNY ANECDOTE ABOUT YOUR TWIN SISTER?M.I have a wonderful memory with Vero: when we were little, our parents - having a dance school and being dancers themselves - had 'strangely' decided to let us take Ballroom Dance lessons from a teacher who was number one: the Teacher Maggioni. She and I started dancing together, I was the knight and Veronica the lady. I don't know if we had started the other way round, the relationship between us would be different today... Even now - when we dance together - I can't really be the follower, I have to be the leader and so I guide her!V.I love my sister, when she comes to my house and opens the wardrobe she starts laughing and starts making videos to tease me. She comes in and says, "Vero, but where did you get this from?" When I actually have some special night I go to Mari's house and I know that I can find things that only she can have: fishnet leotards, nipple covers, let's just say, edgy stuff. In fact, she regularly either dresses me or does my make-up. I always ask her advice because she has the magic wand. She adores me for this and I adore her for other things: we are really hate-love twins but more love than hate!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG?M. I don't have an absolute favourite song, but there are some that transport me to another dimension: I can sway between an excesses of euphoria to an excesses of weeping. Jimmy Fontana's ‘Il mondo’ is one of the songs I have in my heart and I associate it with my family. With my sister there are a few of Mina songs in particular that, if I listen to them, bring a tear to my eye. But specifically there is an English Waltz that we have in common and if we hear it - besides reminding us of the afternoons spent in the arenas doing dance competitions - we just look at one another, realizing how deeply it touches us each time and we burst into tears. Whereas, with regards my husband Mumford and Sons reminds me of our wedding.V.'The look' by Metronomy, 'La voglia e la pazzia' by Ornella Vanoni, 'Del verde' by Calcutta because I have a very precious memory of my daughter linked to this song. Lately I love French music, above all Brigitte Bardot. I like a lot of genres: rap, hip-hop and dance music such as Frank Sinatra or the English Waltz. When I hear music from when I used to dance, I go back there with my memory and think back to my family and how much I shone during that period of my life, which I don't talk about often but which was very important to me.R.‘Parole Parole’ by Mina, I love her in general.

We grew up dancing, we were raised in a dance hall-circle that was the Cral della Centrale del Latte, and then we spent another part of our lives in Sala Venezia. So we were always surrounded by dancers, by dance, and I think all this made our adolescence 'healthy'. Many weekends spent in arenas, always surrounded by music from the 20s to the 50s. Vero and I felt a bit like aliens, although we listened to Britney Spears as much as anyone at that time, we still got a thrill when a Dean Martin song came on. I used to listen to Frank Sinatra on my headphones and I remember imagining choreographies as if I were living in a musical, in times when being a pop music fan was a requisite. Now, at almost 40, we find ourselves raising our daughters in this magical and surreal world of La Balera dell'Ortica. And that is exactly how Veronica and I grew up. We're a big family, we're not always happy, and we don't always get along, but we do our best to be all together, to work together and to raise the children together: we're a great little Balera community! Bringing our three daughters - Miranda, Marilou and Zelda - to the set was a choice, we wanted to share this day made up of generations with them. Mum was there, we were there and the girls were there too. When will a day like this ever happen again? Playing with clothes... Seeing them running around in socks in the pétanque court... It was really magical!