Brunello Cucinelli

Brunello Cucinelli was born in 1953 in Castel Rigone, a small hamlet in the province of Perugia. He recalls a rural childhood in a farming family, a beginning that placed his early life in the Umbrian countryside.^[1,2,3,4]

After qualifying as a surveyor, he enrolled briefly in engineering. In 1978 he founded a small company with a specific idea: dyeing cashmere. That early venture put the material at the centre of his entrepreneurial work.^[1,2]

Cucinelli moved to Solomeo in 1982. Three years later he bought the village’s ruined fourteenth-century castle and made it the company headquarters. The move tied the business to a small Umbrian village, which became the setting for the company’s growth.^[1,2]