It was a Roman holiday for Brunello Cucinelli this past week, who swapped Solomeo – the medieval Umbrian hamlet that the cashmere giant has transformed into its Edenic headquarters – for the Eternal City to launch a new eyewear collection at Villa Aurelia, a Baroque residence on Rome’s Janiculum Hill.
First built in the late 17th century for Cardinal Girolamo Farnese – then the governor of Rome – the ornate home was later restored by an American heiress, Mrs Clara Jessup Heyland, who bequeathed it after her death to the American Academy in Rome. It proved a suitably dramatic backdrop: beyond the ornate residence are sprawling gardens replete with Roman pine trees and palms, its winding walkways leading to breathtaking vistas of the city in its entirety beyond.
