The Pucci Family’s Palazzo in Florence Now Offers Private Tours and Custom Dining
Despite the undoubtable beauty of its art and storied landmarks, the city of Florence at the end of July can be a bit overwhelming, with its constant flow of tourists and piercing sun rays. Laudomia Pucci’s frescoed salons of Palazzo N6 feel like a welcome oasis, providing refuge and relief — its perfectly working air-conditioning system a perk.
Located in the center of Florence, a few steps away from the city’s Cathedral, Pucci says “50 million tourists come by this road every year to see the [sculpture of] David nearby. Here inside the building we offer peace, quality and privacy.”
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The daughter of Emilio Pucci, the late founder of the namesake brand, and president of Emilio Pucci Heritage explains that Palazzo N6 guests are interested in learning about the arts, and are eager “to have a special experience, to hear a different story” from the tried and true. Yet it’s as Florentine as it can be.
The stately and expansive Palazzo N6, built between 1528 and 1534, stands on Via de’ Pucci and has been in the namesake family for six centuries, a dynasty that spanned from Medici loyalists to three cardinals and a mayor of the city, Laudomia’s great-great grandfather, also called Emilio.
A Chapter of History
However, she very carefully avoids veiling the building with a dusty patina, dubbing Palazzo N6 “a living chapter of Florentine history.”
Brimming with ideas for the location, while admitting it’s still a work in progress, she recalls how after the pandemic she wanted to infuse new life into the palazzo, originally simply called Palazzo Pucci and home to the Emilio Pucci Heritage Hub since 2018. Changing the name was a way to turn the page. “The address is number 6 on this street and it’s a reminder of its six centuries,” she says.
Looking around, she says “it was daunting to imagine that all this would not have a life and no reason to be. And it’s too beautiful to make it your own home. I wanted to share it and to make sure that people would enjoy it, or would learn from it, or would be passionate about it as I am.”
In 2021, when LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton took full control of the brand founded in 1947, she relinquished her role as vice president and image director after more than 20 years in that capacity. She had started working with her father in 1985 and she never stopped dedicating herself to the archives and promoting his heritage.
The brand’s headquarters moved to Milan in 2017 and now there is a sprawling lounge in the space where offices stood for more than 70 years. It includes a bar where she displays beautiful tableware and knickknacks made by hand by Tuscan artisans — each piece unique. “It’s a way to offer visibility to these true artists and help preserve their craft,” she explains.
An Atelier, Too
When she started thinking about breathing new life into the building, showing the brand’s extensive archives that are treasured there would not do, in her mind. “One day the nearby school, the Istituto Europeo di Design, came knocking, and I decided to offer five rooms to students.” With their sewing machines, their sketches, enthusiasm and youth, she relishes the opportunity to see the palazzo return to being an atelier as it was from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s.
“I want it to be a place where there is a conversation on creativity, embracing talent, respecting the history of Florence, and continuously evolving. In museums you see the Romans, you see the Greek, you see the contemporary. Here, I’ve decided that everything has to live together. When there is quality and art, they always work together, without necessarily a chronological order,” she says.
She has been restoring the storied frescoes — including the stunning Bath of Diana dating to 1810, which makes guests feel they are entering into a forest — but at the same time she has added contemporary furniture, including Kartell, Cappellini, De Padova and B&B seating upholstered in bright Pucci prints, and modern artworks, such as arresting glass creations by artist Dale Chihuly, a pioneer in using fire and centrifugal force to molten glass; Takashi Murakami works, and Massimo Listri photos.
Every detail was meticulously chosen and reflects her personal taste and vision. She underscores that the restoration has been conservative because “you don’t want anything to look like it was painted yesterday morning, right?”
Pucci, who relies on word-of-mouth communication, explains that the palazzo offers private visits and dining, but is not open to the public. “You can’t sleep here because that’s a whole different job,” she explains as she is very careful to take one step at a time to provide an experience — hailed for years by luxury brands as the be-all and end-all.
“Over time, I realized that the interest was growing, which gave me confidence to gradually add to each initiative,” she says. Boldly, too. For example, throughout a gallery on the first floor, she has been displaying 17th-century paintings that belonged to her family, juxtaposing them with modern works from the likes of Michelangelo Pistoletto under imposing glass chandeliers, but peppered the space with whimsical mannequins in bright purple, yellow or fuchsia — often with curly wigs in the same colors — donning Pucci accessories and placed on an azure and yellow carpet opposite gilded antique chairs. Memorable, and then some.
Pucci frequently rotates a display of archival designs in another salon. Bonaveri mannequins are placed on colored blocks of different heights, antique busts standing as sentinels on sculpted friezes. “My father was a pioneer in employing models of different ethnicities; he embraced the beauty of women, no matter the color and he was always inspired by them. This is reflected by the mannequins, too,” she says proudly, pointing to the diverse group on the pedestals.
Emilio Pucci’s office and his own personal memorabilia also take pride of place in one of the rooms.
A visit can tally up to 250 euros per guest — who can each enjoy a drink and something to eat from the bar — and the tour lasts about one hour.
Separate from the visit, lunches and dinners can be booked and customized, provided by Pucci’s personal chef using local and seasonal ingredients, “with a little bit of a twist and a touch of creativity in the kitchen, too.” Examples range from paccheri pasta with cacio cheese, pepper sauce and lime zest, to cod fillet with cherry tomatoes, olives, capers and garden herbs, served with Antinori wines. In good weather, in addition to the stunning dining room, the meals can be served in the courtyard of the building. Eighty percent of visitors are American, she says, but “it’s all very private.”
Proceeds are reinvested in the maintenance of the building and the protection of the clothes, which are being digitally catalogued. Pucci designers, including artistic director Camille Miceli, have access to the archives.
“I am delighted they come and do their research here,” she says. “I would also love to eventually launch a very specific project to restore the clothes, and there could be some sort of club to belong to for participating. For example, we have hats from the 1950s that need urgent restoration and the only way to restore them is with [a special] Japanese paper. There are probably only five people in the world who have this know-how and how great would it be for someone to come in and say they are here to do just that?”
Ticking off several potential ideas, Pucci underscores this is only “the beginning” of the journey. Smiling coyly, she adds with a wink, “this is my retirement project.”
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