A company like a building. And Brunello Cucinelli receives an honorary doctorate in architecture

Images of the regular cycle of the stars, of the order of a furrow marking the earth, recur frequently in the memories of Brunello Cucinelli. The entrepreneur evokes them as components of a sort of personal sense of harmony, deriving from having lived his early years as the son of a farming family, in close contact with nature. And that as an adult has naturally led him to want to give equally harmonious forms to what he has built: his company, his work spaces, the cultural projects that have resulted. An architecture, therefore, both entrepreneurial and philosophical that earned him the title of honorary doctor of research in "Design for Made in Italy: Identity, Innovation and Sustainability" conferred yesterday by the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in Caserta, in the premises just a few hundred metres from the Reggia designed by the famous architect.

"Our farm was very tidy, the vines tidy, the wheat field cut even in the remotest corners, even the stables where the animals were kept were perfect,' he recalls. Vitruvius, one of my masters, maintained that every building must be solid, useful and beautiful. I have tried to realise these principles, creating a company that can last for centuries, useful for the people, the territory and the country'.

The company is indeed very solid, even in numbers: in 2024, turnover reached €1.27 billion, an increase of 12.4% compared to 2023, with the aim of growing by another 10% this year. Over time, profits, according to Cucinelli's ethos, have also been used to give shape to other types of architecture: the village of Solomeo, the company's headquarters, brought back to life in the 1980s, when reclaiming half-abandoned villages still sounded like an oddity, and where over time the factory, the theatre, the 'Tribute to the Dignity of Man' monument, the cantina, and the Universal Library is being completed.

A little more than 120 km away from Solomeo, also in Umbria, work is underway to rebuild from its rubble the village of Castelluccio di Norcia, devastated by the 2016 earthquake and for which two years ago in Milan Cucinelli presented the urban planning project, a union of recovery of the past and state-of-the-art anti-seismic techniques. By the end of the summer, then, the factory extensions should be inaugurated: the first phase of the doubling of Solomeo (recovering abandoned buildings in the area) and that of Penne, in Abruzzo, also conceived as places where those who work are recognised and valued, in the wake of the vision that Cucinelli shares with other Italian entrepreneurs such as Alessandro Rossi, Adriano Olivetti, Luisa Spagnoli.

To build in order to stay is also to invest in the future, while fears are growing over the consequences of the duties imposed by the United States. The Americas are historically the first market for Cucinelli, accounting for around 37% of revenues (and growing by 18% in 2024): 'I am not worried. We will react to a possible price increase by investing even more in quality and exclusivity,' he comments. Besides, we have already come through many difficult times: the 2008 crisis, the 2011 crisis, Covid, when it seemed we were all destined to close. Let's remember that whoever is the custodian of something, is so for a defined time. I believe that a new time is coming, we can feel it in a renewed desire for humanity, the need for a new balance between science and soul. A time animated by a new social contract with creation, which will be written and realised by young people. Like architects, full of confidence.