I spent each and every one of my summers at my Grandparents' summer villa in Marina di Ravenna, Italy, a house seperated from the Roversi summer villa by a broken link fence....Was best friends for much of that time with his niece, who was around my age....met him many times and played in the sea with his sons.
Only found out that he was famous when I was 12 or 13 or so. A very nice man, very kind. I still see him there from time to time, though obviously the villa belongs to his family in general, not only to him.