Sabato De Sarno’s Second Cruise Collection Will Be Presented From the House’s Home City
Gucci is set to return to its roots in Florence for its upcoming Cruise 2026 collection, scheduled to take place on May 15, 2025. The event, titled “Gucci Firenze,” will pay tribute to the city where the luxury fashion house was founded in 1921.
Sabato De Sarno’s second Cruise collection follows his first that was presented at the Tate Modern museum in London, forming an homage to the city where Guccio Gucci famously first encountered the world of luxury travel and the glamor of the European elite.
The choice of Florence meaningfully continues this historical thread, as it was the location of the first Gucci leather goods shop opened by Guccio Gucci in 1921 on Via della Vigna Nuova. Over the years, the brand has expanded its presence in the region with corporate offices in nearby Casellina and the state-of-the-art Gucci ArtLab in Scandicci, which opened in 2018. The city is also home to the Gucci Archive in Palazzo Settimanni, a space that has served various roles for the brand since 1953 and became its official archive in 2021.
This isn’t the first time Florence has been the backdrop for a Gucci cruise show. De Sarno’s predecessor, Alessandro Michele, staged the Cruise 2018 show at the Palatina Gallery in Palazzo Pitti. While the exact location for the upcoming Cruise 2026 show has yet to be revealed, Gucci’s ties to the city remain strong. In a statement, the brand said Florence “embodies Italian craftsmanship and visionary creativity, while reaffirming [De Sarno’s] contemporary vision, deeply rooted in the brand’s heritage and lasting influence.”
Guccio Gucci opened his first eponymous leather goods shop on Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence in 1921, and the link with the city has only strengthened over the decades. Florence “embodies Italian craftsmanship and visionary creativity, while reaffirming [De Sarno’s] contemporary vision, deeply rooted in the brand’s heritage and lasting influence,” Gucci shared in its announcement.
Gucci’s corporate offices stand in Casellina, a 30-minute drive from Florence, and the cutting-edge Gucci ArtLab, the leather goods and shoe industrial complex inaugurated in 2018, was erected in nearby Scandicci. The global digital client service hub, Gucci 9, is also located in Tuscany.
Florence is also home to Gucci’s storied boutique on Via de’ Tornabuoni, which opened in 1967, and the concept space at Palazzo della Mercanzia, formerly called Gucci Garden, and home to artistic and cultural events and to Gucci Osteria by Massimo Bottura – the first of four restaurants, with the others located in Beverly Hills, Tokyo, and Seoul.
The Gucci Archive, located in Palazzo Settimanni on Via delle Caldaie, is also located in Florence. The space was acquired by Gucci in 1953 and has served as a factory, workshop, and showroom, before being turned into the house’s archives in 2021.