Bulgari opens temple to fine jewelry and watches in Milan

Recent openings for Rolex, such as Watches of Switzerland’s flagship for the Crown on London’s Bond Street and Gearys towering boutique on Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive are important landmarks in the evolution of the brand and how it is sold to clients.

But it is the new or refurbished stores of the world’s great jewellery maisons that are most exciting from a design and architecture standpoint.

Unleashed from the sort of corporate style guides that can make Rolex stores indistinguishable from each other around the world, we see extraordinary interiors created to set pulses racing for lovers of Cartier, Chopard and Van Cleef & Arpels.

The latest example is from Bulgari, which has just opened in Milan, the second city of Italy, where the jeweler was founded in 1884.

Naturally, a boutique in your home country takes on added significance, and Bulgari has spared nothing in the pursuit of perfection for the opening on Via Montenapoleone in Milan’s Golden Triangle of luxury retail.

It has taken over the historic Taverna Radice Fossati building, a neo-classical masterpiece designed by Ferdinando Albertolli in 1835 and provides almost 8,100 square feet over three floors.

Interiors are a fusion of Roman tradition and the architectural heritage of Milan.

Italian artists and artisans are represented in the presentation of work of Fabio Viale and Luca Pignatelli, amid glassware by Venini and Barovier & Toso, interior design by Pictalab, marble from Damiani and Musiva, furnishings from Mangiarotti and textiles of Rubelli.

The ground floor is devoted to Bulgari’s jewellery and watch collections, including Serpenti, Bulgari Tubogas, Divas’ Dream, B.zero1 and Octo.

The brand’s signature association with the snake is shown in a depiction on the store’s arched ceiling while an eight-pointed star, a symbol of its historic shop at Via dei Condotti 10 in Rome, features in a mosaic on the floor.

An interior courtyard is used for a grand formal staircase lit by a chandelier made in Venetian glass.

Fine jewellery is presented on a first floor flooded with natural light while the top of the building is reserved as a space for private events and exhibitions.