Paola Marella, a well-known television personality and architect with impeccable design taste, passed away at the age of 61. “After a long journey filled with hope, surrounded by friends and special professionals, Paola leaves us, our Strength,” her family wrote in the obituary, asking for support for the Pancreas Center Prof Reni at the San Raffaele Hospital.
The most recurring word in these last hours, following the announcement of the presenter’s death, is indeed strength. But not an aggressive, violent strength; rather an elegant yet determined one, as Marella had always shown herself to be in her work, on social media, and in the television programs she successfully led over the years (with “Cerco casa disperatamente” on Real Time, she had entered the homes of Italians to stay).
The last video and memories from her collaborators
And even against the long illness that ultimately defeated her, but never overshadowed her smile: a breast cancer that first appeared 13 years ago and then resurfaced in 2020. However, her sunny disposition and desire to do never diminished, even in her final moments, as evidenced by the last video she posted on Instagram 5 days ago, showcasing her look, complete with the inevitable pashmina, suitable for the “unsettled weather” of these days.
“You asked us not to be dramatic, and we won’t – the social girls dedicated a long post to Paola Marella –. Let us say how much we admired you over these years and how your determination and strength will remain an example for us and for all those who saw you weather this storm as only you could.” “You arrived with clear ideas – they explained – and even though the digital world wasn’t your realm, you felt the need to talk to people, to share your passions. And you managed to do it with ease and professionalism, but also with that familiarity and humor that we will miss immensely. Collaborating with you, Paola, was never just work,” Azzurra and Claudia remember.
“We shared chats, ideas, thoughts, and even dreams. We faced challenges, celebrated successes, and found comfort in difficult moments. And even in these, your smile never faded, your positivity never wavered. You lived life with a lightness that was never superficiality, but a quiet strength, that of finding beauty even on the grayest days.” “Social media was also a place of lightness for you, never a stage to create a false image or chase easy approval. Rather, it was a space where you always expressed yourself freely, where you shared your passions and gracefully and discreetly recounted your private life, your great love for your beautiful family. And the most beautiful thing was to see how your community perceived all of this. Here, there was a sincere affection. They admired you for your innate elegance and for that cheerful smile with which you managed to spread good humor in every ‘good morning’.”
The career
Paola Marella, architect and TV personality: passed away at 61 after battling a serious illness (Facebook profile photo)
Married and mother of Nicola, born in 1995, she graduated from Politecnico di Milano, and began her career on construction sites as a real estate agent, later developing a passion for property sales that was more than just a job; it was her entire life. “You enter people’s homes, reason with them on how to free them, then invent a project, following step by step construction sites that could last even two years. Every important milestone in my life has been marked by a different site.” A serious and reliable professional in the city environment, she became the right face when in 2007 Real Time was looking for a host for a TV program on homes and property transformations: she fit perfectly into this new environment. “The truth is we were the first to talk about something different, being able to invent from scratch a type of television that, at least in Italy, didn’t exist.” She was a pioneer and was therefore imitated and copied. She had no problem with this, remaining authentic and sincere.
Having become a beloved public figure in Italy, she then moved to Cielo, Tv8, worked for three years at La7 in “A te le chiavi,” and in 2019 for Sky Uno, with “Un sogno in affitto” re-aired from 2021 to 2023. In 2023, she returned to collaborate on the Discovery HGTV television channel with the interior decoration program “Come la vorrei.”
Condolences and farewell messages on social media
The news of her death on September 21, after a long battle with cancer, left her friends and admirers in shock, as they posted messages of condolence online, from Catena Fiorello to Filippa Lagerback, from Alessia Marcuzzi to Carolyn Smith, including Paolo Conticini and professor Matteo Bassetti. “I have always admired your elegance, calmness, and class. When I needed you, you were there for me. Safe travels,” wrote the chief physician of the San Martino hospital in Genoa.
“Paolina, that’s what I affectionately called you, and suddenly you are no longer here,” wrote a moved Enzo Miccio on his social media. “For years, we were the television faces of a network that gave us our artistic beginnings, we had fun sharing a new way of making television that in 2005 was pure avant-garde! On set and off set, you were always a chic, intelligent, elegant, and smiling woman. So many memories tie me to you: smiles, hugs, jokes during off-camera moments, and the complicity before the cameras. How painful it is to know you are no longer with us; we will miss you, my Paolina,” he concluded.