Brunello Cucinelli Presents Latest Restoration Project
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MILAN — Brunello Cucinelli thinks in terms of centuries.
On Tuesday, Cucinelli unveiled a project aimed at restoring the medieval village of Castelluccio di Norcia “for the next 500 years,” he said during a presentation of the scale model at the Triennale Museum in Milan. Castelluccio di Norcia was seriously damaged by the 2016 earthquake and is located in the Umbria region, a two-hour drive from Cucinelli’s Solomeo headquarters.
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The project is helmed by the Fondazione Brunello e Federica Cucinelli, not by the Brunello Cucinelli publicly listed company, and the idea is to start restoring the main square and the church in the village.
“We hope that seeing the cranes will inspire others to contribute and help with the rest of the village,” said Cucinelli, who admitted he’s “always been fascinated by architecture.”
The study was first started in 2017, but was interrupted by the pandemic and then resumed and completed last year.
“The shape of the village and landscape that would result from construction techniques and decorative elements and consideration of the geological and botanical environment are as contemplated in the ‘Environmentalism’ criteria formulated by Gustavo Giovannoni in the 1930s,” said Cucinelli, citing the architect, urban designer and restorer who greatly contributed to the field of conservation. “The ideas, the project we intend to donate to the village of Castelluccio in the hope that it may be rebuilt has much in common with how we live and work in Solomeo, in harmony with creation and respectful of the dignity of the place.”
Cucinelli touted the village’s “extraordinary beauty, its healthy air, silence and good food, its long history and its peaceful, hardworking and dignified inhabitants. At the same time, the project is intended as a donation towards a future inspired by human sustainability, an attempt to make a significant contribution of beauty to the humanity that will animate the centuries to come.”
He declined to provide any financial details, saying he was more interested in the long-term scope of the venture rather than the economics. He also did not specify a date when works will kick off, but said “soon.”
Cucinelli was flanked by his longtime friend and collaborator, architect Massimo de Vico Fallani, and together they explained they had carefully studied archival documents and several on-site surveys in order to understand the historical significance of the urban area in relation to the surrounding landscape, which is dominated by the Monte Vettore.
The project consists of 28 panels including plans, perspective and drawings and a landscaping project. The Santa Maria Assunta church was completely wiped out except for the apse area and specialists and technicians from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities are involved in the reconstruction. Beyond the church, Cucinelli has imagined an open-air theatre as a symbolic place of culture.
Cucinelli bought Solomeo’s 14th-century castle and surroundings in 1985, and has since restored the entire village, dubbed the “Hamlet of the Spirit,” which includes not only the production factory but also a theater complex; a library; a Monument to the Dignity of Man; the Aurelian Neo-humanistic Academy, hosting seminars on philosophy, history, architecture and spirituality; a vineyard, and a school of arts and crafts that teaches masonry, gardening and farming, tailoring, knitting, cutting and sewing, darning, and mending.
Over the years he has pledged to support the restoration of Norcia’s Civic Tower dating back to 1700, the Museo della Castellina and the town’s theater, which were damaged during the tragic earthquake that hit central Italy in 2016.
That year he also said he would to support the restoration works of Norcia’s Bénédictine monastery, adjacent to the San Benedetto 13th-century basilica, which was the most damaged building with only its Gothic facade left standing.
In the past the entrepreneur invested in the preservation of the region’s other cultural assets, including donating 1 million euros to help restore the famous Etruscan Arch of Perugia, which dates to the third century B.C. In that city, located 10 miles from Solomeo, the foundation also financed the restoration of the Morlacchi Theater, dating back to 1778.
The facades of the San Lorenzo Cathedral in Perugia, in Italy’s central Umbria region, have been restored thanks to contributions from the Brunello and Federica Cucinelli Foundation.
In 2021 Cucinelli presented his next project for Solomeo — a Universal Library.
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