The arrival of Emily Cooper in Rome had more than a touch of déjà vu about it, didn’t it? Just like when the ebullient marketing exec said bonjour to Agence Grateau in 2020, her buongiorno to the Eternal City this month provoked the predictable snootiness about its stereotype-laden depiction of Roman trattorias, empty streets, and tourist-free landmarks.
We’re a little past that though, right? Surely, everyone who enjoys the Netflix smash Emily in Paris can take its hyper-realism with a pinch of salt by now. And anyway, it’s escapist TV through and through and therefore not meant to be identical to real life… or is it?
When, in the latest season, Emily is given a tour of the fictional town of Solitano by her new love interest Marcello Muratori (played by Eugenio Franceschini), home to his family’s luxury cashmere brand Umberto Muratori, the whole set-up bears a striking resemblance to the idyllic HQ for one of Italy’s most famous IRL fashion dynasties.
A family brand famous for the softest of quiet luxury cashmere? Tick. A hilltop town whose cultural monuments have been restored and immaculately preserved by the brand? Tick. Platters of mozzarella, mortadella, and melt-in-the-mouth pasta pomodoro being shared around a huge table at lunchtime? Si! Tick! These scenes were straight out of the Brunello Cucinelli playbook: the 12th-century Perugian town of Solomeo—dubbed the “hamlet of cashmere and harmony”—has been his brand’s HQ since 1985.
The similarities don’t end there. Just as Marcello explains to Emily that the Muratori family has built a school, a library, and a theater (“We want everyone here to be happy—if you’re not happy at work, you’re not happy in life”), so too has the Cucinelli family in the real village. The Cucinelli Theatre hosts regular plays, its amphitheater hosts music festivals, and there’s a terraced garden—called the Garden of Philosophers—dedicated to meditation and contemplation of nature. All of these employ locals—as per the fictional Muratoris. And just as Marcello coos that “the most important way to happiness is through the stomach, that’s why at 1 p.m. every day everyone sits down to eat the most delicious lunch,” the Cucinellis are famous for their hospitality, and the delicious lunches that are indeed shared by the BC team at 1 p.m. every day.
Having been a guest in Solomeo for Cucinelli’s 70th birthday celebrations last year, it’s no exaggeration to say that the village—down to the communal table—looks exactly like its on-screen imitation (in fact, the Cucinelli paccheri pasta served at all of its events is nearly as famous as its cashmere). Food aside, a couple of hours spent in Solomeo does feel like stepping into a different, dreamy dimension. If anything, truth may have been stranger than fiction on the occasion of my visit, as we were serenaded by poets, opera singers, and Mr. Cucinelli himself, who spoke about the importance of preserving craft and slow fashion in a speech to guests. Here, the emphasis really is on cherishing the art of artisanal craft, while encouraging a new generation to preserve it. It’s something that is only really possible if the likes of Cucinelli—and his fictional counterpart, Marcello—insist on highlighting and protecting such skills. Futher props to Emily in Paris for highlighting slow versus fast fashion on a platform as vast as Netflix.