Bulgari expands Valenza factory and aims to double production

Bulgari expands its production area in Valenza. The brand led by Jean-Christophe Babin inaugurates the new site, making the one in Piedmont the largest jewellery factory in the world. The Roman haute joaillerie maison, part of the LVMH group since 2011, has bet on the potential of the Italian goldsmith district of Valenza and aims to double its production capacity by 2029, quadrupling it compared to 2017, the year the Italian production site was opened, with the entry of 500 new employees bringing the total number of workers to 1,600-1,700.

Investments since 2017 have reached €100 million. Talent and innovation are at the heart of the Bulgari project, which also presented the Bulgari School - created in collaboration with the Tarì pole in Caserta - which will also be based in Valenza and will be the Maison's first training centre open to the public. It will stand alongside the existing Bvlgari Jewelry Academy, active since 2017 in training new artisans.

With an expansion of almost 19,000 square metres, the Bvlgari factory reaches a total area of 33,000 square metres. "With our production we contribute to Italy's achievement as the fourth global exporter in the world," recalls Bulgari CEO Babin.

Alongside him at the site's inauguration ceremony was Toni Belloni, president of LVMH Italia, who recalled the Group's figures in Italy - six maisons, 279 shops, 66 production ateliers and 18 thousand direct employees in Italy, with 4 thousand in allied industries - and confirmed the commitments, albeit in a context of great uncertainty. "We respond to difficulties by doing better and better," adds Belloni, who then comments on the overtaking of Hermès on the stock market: "It is a fact that spurs us on to do better and better and solve our problems.

'We have invested EUR 500 million over the course of 2024,' Belloni reiterates, 'this is an exceptional commitment related to the numerous projects in the field. I do not comment on the current uncertainties, but I reiterate our confidence in the medium and long-term prospects of the luxury sector, it will return to growth'.