This week in Florence, Gucci traveled back in time to the city of its birth to stage a Cruise 2026 show inside the 15th-century Palazzo Settimanni—home to the Gucci archive. Nicknamed Gucci’s “time machine,” Palazzo Settimanni is where artisans decode the past to create the future. Creative director Sabato de Sarno immersed his team in the building’s memory, then layered centuries of Florentine textile lore—brocades, jacquards, velvet, fil‑coupé lace—into a collection.
Fabric as DNA
Courtesy of Gucci.
Florence has been Europe’s cloth capital since as long as fashion history can remember, and the runway read like a tactile map of the city’s prized possessions. Embroidered lace under tailored jackets; shimmering silk cut into long coats with boulevard shoulders; and gothic black velvet sliced into modern evening columns. Through it all ran the GG Monogram—at times ghosted into tone‑on‑tone damask, and other times blown up on G belt buckles or stamped into wedge heels.
“Returning to Florence – and specifically to Palazzo Settimanni – is both a tribute and a declaration of intent,” says Stefano Cantino, CEO of Gucci. “The Archive is not merely a repository of our past; it is a living space where Gucci’s identity codes are preserved and reinterpreted through an ongoing dialogue. Presenting the Cruise 2026 collection here reaffirms our bond with the cultural and artisanal heritage that defines us, while projecting it into the future with coherence and ambition.”
The Giglio Moment
Courtesy of Gucci.
The collection’s star accessory was unveiled—the Gucci Giglio bag, named for the lily that has symbolized Florence for six hundred years. Available to shop as soon as the livestream ended, the Giglio arrived in multiple sizes and skins—including glazed calf, archival brocade, and a startlingly soft nappa—with a petal‑shaped flap.
Over a Century of Leather
Leather goods, which launched the house in 1921, were treated two ways. First, top‑handle frames echoed Guccio Gucci’s original travel sets. Second, lounge‑ease experimentation: slouchy half‑Horsebit hobos, vanity boxes re‑cut in suede, and collapsible travel pouches. The juxtaposition of structure and softness mirrored Florence itself—stone palazzos hiding secret gardens, hardworking locals dressed in the finest silks.
Courtesy of Gucci.
Courtesy of Gucci.
“Creativity, style, craftsmanship – what you see in the streets and piazzas of our city is nothing less than the centuries-old tradition of innovation,” added Jacopo Vicini, Councillor for Economic Development and Tourism,and Giovanni Bettarini, Councillor for Culture. “Gucci’s Cruise show embodies all of this: it reflects Florence’s instinctive drive to create and radiate beauty. It celebrates Florentine pride through its highest expressions, opening the city to the world. It is also an opportunity to spotlight a culture of artisanal excellence that cannot be replicated elsewhere. Florence is honored to host Gucci’s Cruise show and proud to welcome, year after year, young people from all over the world who come to study and engage with the worlds of culture, fashion, and design.”
Gucci x Pomellato
For Cruise 2026, Gucci collaborated with Milanese jeweler Pomellato on a capsule line named “Monil”—meaning “jewels” in Italian. A minaudière and torque necklace wrapped in hand‑braided leather, brushed gold links, and pavé diamonds all provided unexpected masculine‑feminine twists, tethering Renaissance metalwork to 1980s Pomellato archives.
A Restaged Sprezzatura
Italian sprezzatura—the art of looking perfectly undone—was seen in the show’s salon‑style pacing, and its ending, too. Models drifted through parquet rooms, then spilling into the street, looking at guests to break the fourth wall. Onlooking, Florentines cheered from the Piazza della Calza. And instead of a traditional finale, Gucci re‑entered the city that birthed it with one final look—a giant lily embroidered in pearls across a dark velvet cape. It was like a benediction. Gucci is Florence; Florence is Gucci.
