“When we build, let us think that we build forever,” Italian fashion designer Brunello Cucinelli quoted English polymath John Ruskin at an address to celebrate being the first recipient of an honorary doctorate in “Design for Made in Italy: Identity, Innovation, and Sustainability”.
The same quote is inscribed on a plaque in the centre of Solomeo, the hamlet which Cucinelli has made the home of his family, business and spiritual life since 1985. Once a crumbling site at the top of a hill among the rolling Umbrian countryside, it has been lovingly restored over the years thanks to funds from the Cucinelli enterprise.
It is for this that he’s been honoured at the University of Campania by a group of universities and specialists in the field of architecture, as well as the extension of this work to the surrounding Umbrian region. It is the first time the designer has received an award for architecture.
In 2010 the designer, famed for his luxurious cashmere knitwear, and his wife, established Fondazione Brunello e Federica Cucinelli which has had a significant and lasting impact on the Umbrian region.
The Italian region is characterised by medieval towns, monasteries and lush green fields and hills which make it a popular holiday and wedding destination, but the countless historic sites present a challenge to maintain. “I firmly believe in the duty to preserve this legacy,” says Cucinelli. “In losing our memories, we would lose ourselves. Moreover, safeguarding history means giving substance to the future.”
Walking around Perugia, the region’s capital, you won’t find the Cucinelli name celebrated on a plaque or in the name of a building, but the family’s influence is everywhere. It’s in the pink tones of the Roman inscription on the city’s Etruscan arch landmark, which hadn’t been visible to present-day visitors until the Cucinelli Foundation restored it in 2014. It’s in the beautifully refurbished interiors of the Morlacchi theatre, which has remained open to residents thanks to funding given in 2017 and the fresh façade of the cathedral they supported in 2022.
In 2018, Brunello Cucinelli sold a 6% share in his eponymous company to add a further €100 million to the foundation. The foundation’s current ongoing projects include a library in Solomeo and the rebuilding of the medieval village of Castelluccio di Norcia which was destroyed in an earthquake in 2016.
Many of Italy’s fashion houses have contributed to the restoration of the country’s historic landmarks. Fendi donated €2 million to the restoration of the Trevi Fountain in 2013, Salvatore Ferragamo renovated a wing of the Uffizi Gallery in 2015 and Bulgari sponsored work on the Spanish Steps in 2016.
While these projects are necessary and worthwhile, there’s something particularly special about Cucinelli’s ongoing work on a local level in the region he clearly loves so deeply. The projects also go beyond preserving history, with many having tangible benefits for the wider community too. Culture, education and spirituality are at the heart of many of them. “I have learned that architecture is made for mankind,” he explains.
Brunello Cucinelli was born in the rural Umbrian village of Castel Rigone, around 20km from Solomeo. He met his wife, Federica, in her hometown of Solomeo when they were teenagers and the couple set up home in the hamlet which today is home to around 700 other residents. It’s also now home to their two daughters, Camilla and Carolina, along with their husbands, all of whom work in the company, and their children.
Down in the valley next to the hamlet is the Brunello Cucinelli factory and offices which provide work to around 700 employees. The space is bright and clean, with large windows that look out onto the manicured lawns and surrounding countryside, a luxury many fashion workers don’t get in city warehouses. Lunch breaks are an hour and a half, no one eats at their desk, and everyone leaves on time at the end of the day. “That time is for your soul,” says the entrepreneur. Even among his own family, they don’t talk business at the dinner table.
Cucinelli has a reputation as “fashion’s philosopher”, and his speech at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli was littered with the thoughts and words of great thinkers: Kant, St Francis, St Benedict, Xenophanes, Emperor Hadrian and many more.
He’s driven by his own philosophy of “humanistic capitalism”. Unlike many capitalists though, he thinks far into the future. The old workshops of the company in Solomeo are kept in a way that they could be returned into residential apartments should the company no longer need them.
The spaces are currently being used, however, to train future generations of artisans. “I’m not concerned about who will buy luxury in the future, I’m concerned about who will make it,” Cucinelli says. The School of Contemporary High Craftsmanship and Arts opened in 2013 offers programmes which directly support the company’s outputs, such as pattern cutting, tailoring and mending, but also horticulture, gardening and masonry, skills which he believes need preserving for the wider world.
Since Brunello Cucinelli went public in 2012, its market capitalisation has grown from €530 million to €6.5 billion, a dream come true for any entrepreneur. However, it’s clear from what he’s done with this fortune over the past 15 years that his dreams go bigger than business success, bigger than the company itself and bigger than his own lifetime.
As he collects his honorary doctorate in architecture he muses about his own company, but also calls on the room to consider the impact of their own actions, saying: “The future is not wholly ours, nor is it wholly not ours.”
