Editor’s Note
This article details the inauguration and impressive scale of a new facility in Valenza, Italy. The piece highlights its architectural significance and operational capacity, underscoring its role as a major development for the region.
The facility was inaugurated with great fanfare on April 16. It is a vast three-story building plus a basement, extending over 33,000 square meters and nestled in the Piedmont countryside. The façade is covered in black and gold-colored plates, signaling the Bulgari universe. Iconic jewelry pieces are showcased at the entrance, and large-scale images of the brand’s finest creations adorn the long corridors, interspersed with windows overlooking the workshops.
Under the leadership of CEO Jean-Christophe Babin since 2013, Bulgari previously operated two separate, long-established sites in Piedmont. In 2017, the company decided to consolidate all its various trades under one roof. As the brand’s growth accelerated—reaching an estimated revenue of €3.6 billion in 2023—the initially oversized site soon proved insufficient. Expansion plans were seeded in 2020, with a major plan announced in late 2022. Two new buildings totaling 19,000 square meters have now been added to the original 14,000 square-meter facility opened in 2017.
Designed by Italian architectural firm Politecnica, the futuristic site is organized around a central building. Employees from all manufacturing units converge here, moving along a suspended exterior walkway that connects to two separate factories, each featuring a central courtyard and sharing the same architectural aesthetic. Entrance is strictly regulated, with visitors passing through metal detectors under security supervision.
The manufacturing areas are split between facilities dedicated to producing metal components (6-7 million pieces annually), offices such as the quality control department, and about 20 workshops. Here, artisan jewelers work at brightly lit benches, using microscopes or magnifying glasses. Tens of thousands of jewelry items are produced each month in Valenza.
One island specializes in creating the high jewelry items of the Alta Gamma collection, while one-off pieces are made in Bulgari’s high jewelry atelier in Rome.
The central building houses “canteens, recreational facilities, and two jewelry schools:” The Bulgari Academy, established in 2017, offers specialized training for new employees focused on brand-specific artisanal techniques. A new public school, the Scuola Bvlgari, opening in September, will cater to 80 students per year. Bulgari states it is “the first training school in this field that is open to the public, and the first-ever to be incorporated within a jewelry manufacturing site.”
The 1,000 square-meter Scuola Bvlgari is set up in partnership with TADS (Tarì Design School), a goldsmithing training center near Naples. Its mission is to teach industry skills, blending traditional techniques with the latest innovative technology.
He added that the Valenza factory’s workforce has grown from 370 in 2017 to 1,128 today, representing 31 nationalities, with 55% women and an average age of 39.
Bulgari is not the only major jewelry brand with a strong presence in Valenza. Cartier, owned by Richemont, which recently opened a factory in Turin, has also embarked on a major manufacturing project in this Italian jewelry bastion. Italian brand Damiani is also present among others.
Bulgari’s goal is for the Valenza site to incorporate, at least partially, all the various jewelry trades. In Valenza, jewelry is produced according to its construction type, using both traditional methods and modern industrial techniques, often involving highly sophisticated CNC tooling machines.