Louis Vuitton doubles the size of its Montenapoleone shop

Three years of work for a renovation that - as always happens when working on historic buildings - has reserved many (nice) surprises, starting with the discovery of frescoes that have been brought back to life. The Louis Vuitton boutique in Via Montenapoleone 2 reopened to the public last Friday: four floors distributed over about 5,000 metres, twice the size of the previous space, with a new addition that seems to have been designed on purpose - almost certainly is - to celebrate Design Week. What is striking about the renovated shop, in addition to the lighting, is the double space dedicated to catering: a Café with a view of Montenapoleone and a real restaurant, Da Vittorio, the result of the partnership with the Cerea family.

But the real surprise is the floor dedicated to the home, ideally connected (as the crow flies it is only a few hundred metres) to Palazzo Serbelloni, in Corso Venezia, where, until Sunday 13, in addition to furnishing accessories and art de la table, the Objets Nomades, the name given by Louis Vuitton to the furniture line, are on display, always recalling the idea of travel (even if only in the imagination), which is identifiable for the maison. "In the first few days of the boutique's opening, about half of the customers were Italian: we are not entirely surprised, because Milan has always been very close to Louis Vuitton, but it is nonetheless a figure that encourages us to strengthen ties with the city," says Pietro Beccari, president and CEO of the Lvmh group maison, which has announced a donation to the Milan City Council for the enhancement of an area of the Castello Sforzesco.

Asked about the question of duties even before Trump confirmed and then froze them, Beccari said that 'the maison remains focused on creating unique products and experiences to offer to customers, both historic and not: it is a journey that continues and that will continue to reserve surprises that we would like to tell more and more to those who enter our boutiques'. About one hundred people work in Via Montenapoleone, to whom - as happens for all the maisons of LVMH, the world's largest luxury group - careful (and continuous) training is given. Prices are also a sensitive issue: in recent years, some high-end brands have raised them well above inflation: 'One adjustment is physiological and is linked to the rising costs of certain raw materials, for example. Every other rise is exclusively linked to an objective change in products or to a further increase in quality: our ambition is that this should always be authentic, comprehensible and explainable,' stressed the CEO of Louis Vuitton, the maison to which around one fifth of LVMH's more than 80 billion turnover is attributable.

Last but not least, the maison has never renounced offering 'accessible luxury' products, alongside unique pieces and special orders: 'Our world, the journey we invite you on, wants to be open to everyone, like this boutique,' Beccari concludes.