Single fork on marble, reflecting the hotel’s attention to refined everyday details
Classic whisky glass on a round side table, capturing an intimate moment within the Suite
At almost 150 years old, Bvlgari is both an elder statesman of today’s jewellery landscape and a relatively youthful channeller of references that are, for the most part, ancient. Its founder, a jeweller from a tiny Epirote village in northwestern Greece, began by incorporating Hellenic motifs into his early pieces. His tableau only expanded from there: Egyptian, Arabian, South Asian, even modernist and Pop Art stylings. And yet, the brand continues to remain fresh and sprightly, ever appending new conceptions and tastes to its refined handling of gold and silver, the eternal materials.
It’s all a long way from Epirus, where Sotirios Voulgaris, the third-generation jeweller and founder of Bvlgari, was born in 1857. Ottoman rule forced his family’s relocation, first to Corfu then to Naples, where constant burglaries and a limited clientele frustrated Sotirios’ grandiose ambitions. He swiftly made the move to Rome and opened a shop on Via Sistina, selling buckles, girdles, medallions and more, all in a neo-Hellenic pastiche. The current Bvlgari flagship was opened on Via Condotti in 1905, as an “Old Curiosity Shop.” In some senses, it is still exactly that. The name, Bvlgari, a Latinised version of Voulgaris, is in itself a kind of old curiosity; so too are the trademark Serpenti watches and bands that, despite their notoriety and global influence, have retained their original mystery and fascination. There exist several stories about how the patented Tubogas technique, which enables their coiling structure, came to be. One has it that a recondite artefact of Russian goldsmithing somehow found its way to Rome; another claims that it was derived from a method of making exhaust pipes for automobiles. This ambiguity extends to the symbol of the Serpenti itself. To the Christians and Jews, the snake has long meant danger, possible ruin; to the Egyptians and ancient Romans it meant eternity.
Signature Bvlgari wall clock detail
Iconic Serpenti-inspired mirrored detailing, reflecting Bvlgari’s signature motifs and the sophisticated geometric influences of the hotel’s interiors
The Parisian arm of the Bvlgari Hotel features its fair share of Serpenti motifs, amongst an array of other references. Its pool mosaics come from the Terme di Caracalla, while its two-storey, extended windows nod to Palladian proportions. Indeed, the building’s exterior is a kind of riff on the Haussmannian prototype—just stately enough to suggest an affinity with its Belle Époque neighbours on Avenue George V, yet distinctive enough to be set apart from them. Originally a 1970s construction that once played host to an old post office, the building reopened in December 2021, presenting an entirely reimagined programme: a Bvlgari boutique, a restaurant developed by an Abruzzian Michelin-star chef and a mixologist from The Ritz, and 76 rooms that blend Italian furnishings, French stonework, and high-gloss surfaces into a singular luxury vision.
Across the channel, its older sibling, the Bvlgari Hotel London, opened just in time for the Summer Olympics in 2012. The first new-build luxury hotel in London for 40 years, it’s fair to say expectations were high. The hotel quickly became a renowned gathering spot for a chic and exclusive clientele, who frequented the restaurant and bar in an almost wordless affirmation of that famed Bvlgari image that spread during the days of Hollywood on the Tiber. Once it had been Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly; then came the new glamour crowd, dining at the Bvlgari Hotel London’s Rivea restaurant with its winding staircase—so “Old Hollywood” that it instantly inspired visions of Hedy Lamarr or Joan Crawford making their grand, cinematic descents.
Suite living area with library wall and chess set, blending residential elegance with Bvlgari’s signature Italian flair
Dining banquette beneath a statement pendant light, highlighting the hotel’s sophisticated interiors and considered design details
The rooms themselves play on the same theme: quiet glamour with a historic sheen. While the hotel’s neutral colour palette may not conjure Egyptian lapidary or Gilded Age excess, its references are all there; one just has to look closely. Take the silk curtains, for example, embroidered in an homage to a brooch designed by Sortirio in the jeweller’s early days. Or the use of Portland stone and bronze, which reference the material history of the hotel’s Knightsbridge locale. Even the extensive use of silver throughout the hotel, most magnificently in the ballroom’s silver chandelier, appears to pay deference to the Voulgaris family’s silversmith origins.
Bvlgari’s conception of luxury has never been a settled matter. There have always been more traditions to reference, more innovations to incorporate: ceramics and silk in its jewellery, an admixture of carbon and gold in its chronographs, all valid experiments in the relentless search for new epiphanies as the brand grew in stature during the mid-twentieth century. The Bvlgari Hotels are no different, another expression of the pursuit of parity between tradition and innovation, a brick-and-mortar embodiment of the brand’s high-luxury appeal—which, upon closer inspection, is as ancient an appeal as humanity has ever known.
Marble bathroom featuring a sculptural bathtub and shower, showcasing the hotel’s opulent materials and striking architectural design
Intricate eight-pointed star motif in marble flooring, showcasing the hotel’s refined architectural detailing
Framed Bvlgari heritage sketches and jewellery artwork, celebrating the house’s legacy and craftsmanship
Sculptural floral arrangement displayed on a marble console, capturing the hotel’s elegant Parisian interiors