Childhood & Early Life
Livia Giuggioli was born on September 4, 1969, in Rome, Italy. Always interested in a career in films, she was a rebellious child. Despite some resistance from her parents, she managed to complete her graduation in film studies from the ‘University of Rome,’ one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world.
After graduation, she ventured into documentary filmmaking, as a production assistant with the film ‘Giuseppe Tornatore: A Dream Dreamt in Sicily,’ directed by Marc Evans.
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Career
Livia happens to be a multi-talented personality. Apart from producing documentary films, she has remained active all her life in fashion and philanthropic endeavors. She started her career as the assistant of producer Fernando Ghia in 1990 and learned the intricacies of film production from him. The production phase of the TV film ‘Nostromo’ brought her in touch with Colin for the first time, and her life was not the same after that.
In 2007, she started ‘Eco-Age,’ a consultancy that promotes eco-friendly fashion products. ‘Eco-Age’ has a shop in London, and Livia is on her way to open a few more shops in major English cities. She is co-handling the venture with her brother, Nicola Giuggioli, and one of her close friends, Ivon Coulson. She has frequently raised her voice in support of eco-friendly fashion institutions and writes blogs to make sure her voice is heard.
Livia’s interest toward green fashion made her travel to Bangladesh in 2009, where she was impressed by the Bangladeshi fashion houses that made an effort to promote eco-friendly fashion. She stated that she was excited to see that people in far-off places of the world too were conscious about the environment.
She blames the capitalist mindset for contributing toward environment depletion. As the acting creative director of ‘Eco-Age,’ she has managed to attract investments and interests from many major corporate and fashion houses. She is also hailed as the creator of the ‘Green Carpet Challenge,’ also known as the ‘GCC.’
As a documentary producer, she has worked on the documentary film ‘In Prison My Whole Life,’ which was directed by Marc Evans. The film was appreciated for its highly controversial subject matter: the wrongful trial and death sentence of a political activist who was accused of killing a policeman in 1981.
The film was hailed at the international festival circuit and was honored with the ‘Best Documentary’ award at the ‘International Human Rights Awards’ in Geneva, in 2007. The documentary was made under her production house, ‘Nana Productions,’ which she had started in partnership with her husband, Colin Firth.
Excited with the success of the film, Livia ventured into the production of four more documentaries in the following years. She also worked toward the promotion of green fashion, with her documentary ‘The True Cost.’ The film has been acquired by ‘Netflix’ and is Livia’s most popular work of filmmaking.
In 2011, Livia introduced ‘The Circle Initiative,’ which consisted of like-minded women who had traveled with her to the poor African and Asian countries. Livia has organized many events in London and other major English cities to make ‘The Circle Initiative’ enter the public consciousness.
In 2002, she took her environmental activism to a whole new level, with the establishment of ‘Green Cut,’ a co-venture of the ‘GCC’ with ‘American Express.’ As part of the initiative, special apparels were designed by eight leading fashion designers from around the world, to promote the ‘GCC’ and environment-friendly clothing. In the same year, for her calculated efforts to make the world aware of the importance of environment, she was honored with the ‘UN Leader of Change’ award.
Her ‘GCC’ initiative touched new heights in 2013, as ‘Gucci,’ one of the world’s leading fashion brands, became a part of it. ‘Gucci’ started manufacturing bags with zero deforestation. In 2014, she received the ‘Rainforest Alliance Award’ and an honorary award from the ‘National German Sustainability Foundation.’
She is also significantly active with ‘Oxfam Global,’ an organization working extensively toward human rights and the elimination of poverty from the world population. She organizes fundraisers and other events to gather funds for the rehabilitation of poor people, especially women.
She, along with her husband, supports ‘Survival International,’ which works toward the survival of indigenous and tribal people around the world. In 2012, Livia campaigned to save the Brazilian tribe ‘Awá,’ which is known as the “most endangered tribe in the world.”
Personal Life
Livia Giuggioli met Colin Firth during the production of the TV film ‘Nostromo,’which starred Colin. The actor was not very successful when he met Livia in 1995. However, the couple started dating soon. At that time, Colin already had three children from his earlier marriage.
Colin and Livia got married in 1997. They had two children: Luca, in 2001, and Matteo, 2003. However, Livia claimed that her parents did not initially like Colin and that he grew on them after meeting them.
In 2018, Livia accused Marco Brancaccia, a journalist, of stalking her. She complained to the authorities, while the man claimed that he had had an affair with Livia sometime back. He was allegedly “harassing” her by sending text messages and calling her frequently.
After a while, Livia finally confirmed that she had had an affair with Marco in 2015, when she was briefly separated from Colin Firth. The news came as a shock to the fans of both Colin and Livia. For a while, it remained one of the most talked-about cases in the international entertainment arena.
