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I got married in Florence, Italy. My husband and I were in love but totally broke, so we eloped and got married in Italy, where he was going on a business trip. We had to pull a guy off the street to be our witness. It was incredibly romantic. Florence is still one of my favorite cities in the world.

Probably the first time I left Italy was to travel by train to Lourdes. I went with my mother and my grandmother - who was a very religious person - so it was a pilgrimage of sorts. I remember it as a very intense, but beautiful experience.

My childhood is in my brother's house, and I like to visit there and be reminded.

I think I went to Italy initially for the art, architecture, food and history, but I stayed there because of the people in Cortona.

Florence is charming, cozy, beautiful, inspiring - it has so many great places to go to and so many unique things to see that you won't find anywhere else!

My mother took me to Venice one time and showed me all the houses where famous composers used to live. It gave me a fascination for music and the city, but also for architecture. It was a valuable lesson.

I grew up in the countryside with the factory here, my house 200 metres away, my grandma's house 50 metres away, in a kind of old-style Italian society where everyone works for the family business, everyone lives nearby, and the people you spend your time with are your family.

Venice, Italy, is one of my favorite cities, a place I've been lucky enough to visit twice.

In my growing-up years in Germany, I attended church in many different locations and circumstances - in humble back rooms, in impressive villas, and in very functional modern chapels.

The very best hotel I've stayed in is the Intercontinental on Park Lane. We went there for the Chelsea Flower Show a few years ago, and it was sheer luxury. Everybody had a smile on their face. I came home and changed all my pillows because the hotel ones were so beautiful.