MILAN — The goldsmith district in and around the city of Arezzo in Italy’s Tuscany region as it’s known today — industrialized, competing on global markets — largely owes its current position to one company, which is turning 100 this year.
Unoaerre, previously known as Gori & Zucchi from the surnames of the two founders Leopoldo and Carlo, is credited with having spurred the industrialization of what was previously a local craft largely dependent on small, artisanal workshops and ateliers based in the town.
The company’s role was perhaps written in the state hallmark assigned at its founding, 1AR, which singled it out as the first firm registered in Arezzo. By importing precision machinery from Germany and later setting up a vertically integrated pipeline, down to gold recycling, Gori and Zucchi helped the district thrive.
Throughout its history the company has gone through the ebbs and flows of the jewelry sector, impacted to various extents by wars, macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical disruption.
Unoaerre fashion jewelry bracelet.
Courtesy of Unoaerre
After navigating World War II, Unoaerre received Italy’s historic brand seal in 1957 and rapidly made a name for itself with cutting-edge gold jewelry, and commercials on national TV in the ’60s for its signature medal pendant and chain designs in the ’70s. In the ’90s it would kick off a prolific collaboration with Italian sculptor, printmaker and stage designer Giò Pomodoro, the brother of artist Arnaldo.
Since 2012 the company has been owned by the Squarcialupi family of chemical industrialists, which dragged it out of a composition with creditors’ procedures and retooled its business to encompass both third-party manufacturing of gold pieces and its namesake accessible jewelry brand.
“One could say that Unoaerre started out as a start-up as the founders had this vision of simplifying jewelry making and making products more accessible to consumers,” said Maria Cristina Squarcialupi, the company’s president and the daughter of Sergio, who rescued the business 14 years ago.
A chemist like her father, Squarcialupi joined the company in 2016 as vice president and was promoted to her current role in 2019. She shares executive duties with chief executive officer Luca Benvenuti.
“That doesn’t mean everything became fully mechanized, though. In fact, in our museum — which traces the company’s history from its founding through the early 2000s — you can see that craftsmanship and manual work have always played a very important role,” she said.
For its milestone this year, Unoaerre has planned several celebratory initiatives, including an arty exhibition in its hometown, receiving a dedicated stamp, as well as the opening of a new manufacturing plant, set to bow in the second half of 2026.
“Unoaerre is a resilient company,” Squarcialupi said. “A hundred years later, we’re still here, opening new chapters and continuing to be one of the most important companies not only in Italy but also worldwide.”
The Unoaerre stamp marking its centennial.
Courtesy of Unoaerre
In 2025 the company logged sales of 281 million euros, flat versus a year earlier, but saw earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization grow to 40 million euros, up from 30 million euros a year earlier.
“When my father took over the company, he encouraged the idea of re-addressing all the markets where Unoaerre was already known, and indeed, we found those doors wide open,” Squarcialupi explained.
Like many of the Italian companies operating in creative manufacturing fields, Unoaerre has a strong international footprint for its white label activities, especially in Europe and Asia, where it boasts subsidiaries in Paris and Tokyo.
The U.S. is also a strong market, the executive said, noting how Unoaerre’s participation at the JCK show in Las Vegas is instrumental in growing its penetration of the region.
Meanwhile, the owned brand — hinged on design-forward pieces priced accessibly and crafted from non-precious metals as well as silver — is mainly distributed in Italy and Japan. It represents about 21 percent of the company’s total revenues.
“As a premium jewelry brand and manufacturer we also sought to stress the added value of craftsmanship, which many competitors with a similar positioning tend to overlook… That’s an element of differentiation that has driven consumers towards Unoaerre over competitors,” the executive said.
The Unoaerre museum in Arezzo, Italy.
Courtesy of Unoaerre
To be sure, Unoaerre is steeped in Italian consumers’ collective memory, as the maker of signature wedding rings and chain-like designs. Squarcialupi said the time is now ripe for the brand to cross borders, toward Spain and other Mediterranean countries that have affinities with Italy.
To this end, Unoaerre is opening a 52,743-square-foot industrial plant in Arezzo’s San Zeno district next fall to flank the existing unit and house all operations for the owned brand and fashion jewelry.
Unoaerre opened a company museum in Arezzo in 1998, currently home to about 2,000 pieces spanning the Art Deco period, creations by artists and designers such as Pietro Cascella, Salvador Dalí, Giacomo Manzù and Pomodoro, among others, through to more recent jewels.
Artist Felice Limosani inside the “Polvere di Stelle” installation for Unoaerre’s centennial.
Courtesy of Unoaerre
Fittingly, to mark the anniversary, Unoaerre tasked Italian artist and curator Felice Limosani to curate an exhibition running through June 8 at the Palazzo della Fraternita dei Laici in Arezzo.
Titled “Polvere di Stelle,” or “Stardust” in English, the immersive video installation is devoid of any references to the company and is rather a reflection on the cosmic origin of gold, today known as the byproduct of the collision of neutron stars.
