With Lorenzo Buccellati, the dean of jewelry passes away. Buccellati died on June 3 in Milan, on the eve of his ninetieth birthday. His father, Mario, was Gabriele D’Annunzio’s goldsmith. The poet called him “mastro paragon coppella”. Lorenzo Buccellati inherited the leadership of the company in 1965, after a youth spent studying the violin (with Claudio Abbado’s father) and playing basketball: he also played in the Milan team, “the red shoes”, which is now EA7 Olimpia. He was then joined at the helm of the company by his second wife, Claudia Granati, and his second son Luca. But the history of the Buccellati family is complicated: Lorenzo was the firstborn, who took over the founder’s business. But he had three other brothers: Federico, Giorgio (a famous archaeologist) and GianMaria, the youngest. As often happens, after the death of the founder of the company, a dynasty began in the family, with a fracture that has not yet healed. The brothers began to argue. At first Lorenzo and Federico were allies, so Gianmaria decided to go it alone, and with the Gianmaria Buccellati brand he was the first Italian to open a store in the jewelry Olympus, the Parisian Place Vendome. But then Lorenzo and Federico also decided to follow different paths. Lorenzo kept the store in Milan, in via Monte Napoleone, while Federico got the boutiques in Florence and Rome. Until the reunification, which took place in 2011: Simest acquired 49% of Mario Buccellati Srl for 2.94 million euros. Gianmaria, in turn, acquired the remaining 51%. Luca (Lorenzo’s son) remained at the operational helm of the new structure. Last year, Gianmaria sold his Buccellati holding to Claudio Sposito’s Clessidra fund.
Lorenzo Buccellati, in addition to being a great name in jewelry, was also a prominent figure in the sector. From 1982 to 1991 he was president of the National Federation of Goldsmith Retailers, then honorary president of Confedeorafi.
