3 min read
It’s hard to discuss Brunello Cucinelli, both the brand and the man, without looking to Solomeo, the small village in Italy where he grew up and has since transformed into the nexus of his clothing empire. Cucinelli has spent his life giving back to the community that raised him, investing in restoring the town, creating new spaces, and employing locals. In a new documentary, debuting in select theaters today, Cucinelli traces his own history and depicts Solomeo in all its forms.
Produced by Cucinelli and Massimiliano Di Lodovico, the film, in a contrast to other fashion designer documentaries, blends fact and fiction. Titled Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, it blends archival footage with new, where Cucinelli is portrayed by young actors. Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, best known for Cinema Paradiso, it charts Cucinelli’s life, from childhood through the building of his business and the transformation of his hometown.
Below, Cucinelli tells ELLE Decor about all of his favorite places and what makes any space feel particularly “Brunello.”
Courtesy of Stefano Schirato
ELLE Decor: Where are you finding inspiration now?
Brunello Cucinelli: I find myself drawn to young people, and to what kind of future we are preparing for them. I am also endlessly inspired by the rhythm of the natural world — the swallows that return to Solomeo on the same day each year. There is a wisdom in that consistency that all our technology will never improve upon.
What makes a space feel “Brunello”?
Harmony between the place and the spirit of the people who inhabit it. Natural materials, generous light, books within reach, somewhere quiet to sit and think, because thinking is a kind of labor too, and it deserves a proper chair.
How did your childhood homes affect how you create your own spaces?
I grew up in Castel Rigone with no electricity and no running water. We read by candlelight. It was a poor home, but never an undignified one. When I had the means to restore Solomeo, I wasn’t interested in opulence but I wanted to recreate that same dignity, with the comfort poverty had denied my parents.
Courtesy of Stefano Schirato
What is your favorite place right now?
The theater at Solomeo, in the late evening, once everyone has gone home—a monument to the dignity of man, like the amphitheaters the Romans built two thousand years ago. I think of Marcus Aurelius, who said we should live as though each day might be our last.
Why did you decide to create a film about your life?
I had seen many documentaries made about important men and women. Almost always, they arrive after that person has gone. I thought it was important not to wait to finally tell this story, honestly. So I called director Giuseppe Tornatore. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso is the film of my life—I must have seen it twenty times—and I knew that if anyone could find the poetry inside an ordinary man’s story, it would be him.
How did you land on a blend of documentary and fiction?
This was Giuseppe’s instinct, and a wise one. There was not very much old footage of me as a boy—we had no electricity, let alone a camera. So he had to reconstruct certain chapters, with young actors playing me at different ages. But nothing in it is invented. It is interpreted through his cinematic lens and language. I think this is rather like life itself—we live the documentary every day, but we remember it, we tell it to our children and grandchildren, as something closer to a fairy tale.
Courtesy of Stefano Schirato
What was most important to you to show in the film?
The dignity of work, above everything. I saw my father humiliated in a factory when I was a boy, treated as though he was not worthy of fair treatment, and I made myself a promise then that I would never permit that to happen to another human being if it was in my power to prevent it. Everything I have built since comes from that single memory.
Was there any other media you looked to for inspiration?
I did not look so much to other films as to the philosophers I have always kept close like Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian, Seneca. It is a compass I still use every morning.
Annie Goldsmith is the senior editor and digital lead at ELLE Decor, where she covers design, culture, style, and trends. She previously held positions at The Information, covering technology and culture, and Town & Country, writing about news, entertainment, and fashion. Her work has also appeared in Vogue, Rolling Stone, and the SF Standard.