Brunello Cucinelli’s Venice store transforms a former stock exchange

In partnership with Brunello Cucinelli

The new Brunello Cucinelli Venice store has opened its doors, in one of the city’s most enchanting locations. Occupying two levels of the Palazzo della Borsa, the former stock exchange, the store can be found on the Calle Larga XXII Marzo, close to the Piazza San Marco. Once of Venice’s smartest streets, the Calle Larga XXII Marzo is lined with magnificent Palladian buildings once occupied by aristocrats, but now housing the city’s designer and luxury boutiques.

Inside the new Brunello Cucinelli Venice store

Built in the 1920s to a design by young architect Camillo Puglisi Allegra, the palazzo’s Liberty-style façade is embellished with intricate masonry work depicting Poseidon’s daughters, sea monsters, shells and chimaeras. Brunello Cucinelli was keen that its new store respected the building’s historical and artistic aesthetics, with the Italian fashion house’s architects paying close attention to the conservation of its original elements during the renovation. The airy but cosy layout begins with an entrance that leads into a long, elegant hall, characterised by a vaulted boxed ceiling and art nouveau stucco decorations.

To the right is the old trading floor, the Sala delle Grida (literally, the ‘Shouting Hall’), which is now home to the maison’s womenswear collections. The design conserves some of the building’s original wrought-iron railings, incorporating them into a fully staffed bar that echoes the traders’ habit of meeting and discussing in the best traditions of Italian conviviality. The former stock exchange café now houses the menswear collections, while the upper level, once the back offices, are used for displaying accessories and receiving private customers.

All the materials used for the renovation, from the Roman travertine flooring to the black nickel and glass counters and clay perimeter walls, reflect a simplicity and symmetry, as well as a desire to create a dialogue between past and present, to enhance the beauty of the sumptuous Venetian craftsmanship, while reflecting the Brunello Cucinelli brand’s distinctive contemporary elegance.

brunellocucinelli.com