The arrival of Emily Cooper in Rome had more than a touch of déjà vu about it, didn’t it? Just like when the ebulliant 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 simi.
