The Collectors: Brunello Cucinelli
In his picturesque medieval home in Umbria, the fashion icon stores thousands of volumes that feature the "great classics of thought"
“The ancient Roman emperor Hadrian once said that books showed him the way of life. How could I not be inspired by such a lofty and noble thought?” muses Brunello Cucinelli, creative director and executive chairman of the Italian brand that epitomizes quiet luxury. “I don’t call myself a collector, but I like to have beautiful, special books that can tell much more than their content.”
Cucinelli resides in Solomeo, a picturesque medieval Italian hamlet in Umbria that he has spent decades restoring to also house his company headquarters. In his home, he stores thousands of volumes that “feature the great classics of thought: literature, poetry, architecture,” says the entrepreneur, who is building the Universal Library of Solomeo, a public-access space containing volumes in all the world’s languages. “I believe we cannot do without these precious teachings, and these works deserve all the love, care, and attention possible.”
First encounter: Being gifted a late uncle’s treasured, well-thumbed copy of Phaedrus by Plato when he was a child ignited a lifelong interest. “From those pages was born my desire to collect, read, and preserve books, and my passion for them has fueled in me a great curiosity and thirst for knowledge.”
Rarest finds: “A fine edition of De Architectura Libri Decem by Vitruvius, printed in Lyon in 1552. Then Metamorphoses by the great Ovid in a refined Venetian edition from 1502, given to me by my esteemed collaborators.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Late Fall Issue under the headline “The Collectors.” Subscribe to the magazine.