Italian Dressing

For Brunello Cucinelli, life is like one of his trademark sweaters: comfortable, relaxed, and super luxurious. The designer’s daughters show off the dolce vita at a dinner party in Umbria, a stone’s throw from the brand’s headquarters.

- Elena Goldblatt

You feel like part of something special when in the hilltop village of Solomeo, a tiny Umbrian borgo of just 500 souls near Perugia. Yet, unlike many villages in Italy that are quickly turning into ghost towns, Solomeo is full of young families. If borgo living were a thing— and it really should be—Brunello Cucinelli certainly would have coined the term. Brunello—everyone in Solomeo calls him by his first name—is a rare, self-made, and proudly Umbrian entrepreneur, the son of a farmer, who founded his eponymous fashion brand in 1978 with a single order of brightly colored cashmere sweaters, a revolutionary concept at the time. But it wasn’t until years later, in 1987, when he was well on his way to earning the “cashmere king” moniker bestowed on him by the Italian press, that Brunello moved to his wife Federica’s native Solomeo and began to fully realize his vision for borgo living.

In Solomeo, almost all aspects of the Cucinelli business—from production to PR—take place on-site (some of it in a fourteenth-century castle). The quaint cobblestone streets are almost entirely populated by Cucinelli employees (including Brunello’s daughters Camilla, 35, and Carolina, 26), who serve as daily brand ambassadors, impeccably outfitted in the company’s signature knits. But it’s not just the look that’s on brand—the entire lifestyle is: Everyone, from the seamstress to the financial director, leaves work at 5:30 p.m. No one is expected to check e-mail after hours. Lunch is 90 minutes, allowing time to return home for a meal and even a siesta.