The Cucinelli family maintains a quiet life in Solomeo, the tiny Italian town where Brunello Cucinelli, the family company, is based. But three years ago, the cameras arrived. Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, a documentary/drama hybrid, brought Giuseppe Tornatore, the director of the Oscar-winning film Cinema Paradiso, to town. The film tells the designer’s life story, while also introducing Federica, Carolina, and Camilla, the other members of the exceptionally close family, to the world.
Cucinelli’s daughter Carolina is vice president and co-creative director of the brand, while her older sister Camilla is vice president and co-head women’s creative director. Federica, Brunello’s wife, retired at 65 after a long career with the company, though she continues to be involved. The film reflects the major role she played in building the house.
The sisters weren’t obligated to join the business, Camilla insists. “Although our parents left us absolutely free to choose what kind of career we wanted to pursue, we were born and bred in the company. We have always been part of this world,” she says.
Tornatore took a fascinating approach to the story. In addition to documentary footage, moments from Brunello’s life, including his rural upbringing, are dramatized, with actors playing him at different ages. “Our father wanted the movie because although he had written a book, he felt the movie would reach a wider, younger audience,” Camilla says. “He wanted to convey this message about the philosophy that our company is rooted in.…It is a message of hope, of believing in one’s dreams.”
In the dramatized scenes woven through the movie, Camilla and Carolina have been able to see moments of their father’s life from before they were born. “It has been extremely enchanting to see some situations that we had heard about only through stories,” Camilla says. “He keeps telling us about his life at the barn, where he spent the first years after he finished school. We knew about it, but only from his recounting. Whereas now, we’ve had a chance to actually see the set that was reconstructed in such an accurate and painstaking way. It was nice to step into our father’s life as a young man.”
The film also allowed Carolina to appreciate her mother’s role in the family and the business in a new way. “I had the chance to learn more deeply about the relationship between my mom and dad since the beginning. I realize how important my mom was at the time, to be the foundation for my father in a moment when he’s starting to dream very powerfully. And she, of course, is one of the best characters after Mr. Brunello in the movie.”
Federica was by Brunello’s side for so much of their lives, and found it beautiful to revisit her memories. “For me, it was everything that I had already experienced,” she says. “It was like stepping back in time.”
This story appears in the March 2026 issue of ELLE.
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