Bulgari

Sotirios Voulgaris, a silversmith born in Paramythia, Epirus, in 1857, moved to Rome with his family in 1881 and opened his business there in 1884. The BVLGARI wordmark, with a classical V in place of the U, first appeared in 1934 in gilded letters above the doorway of the Via Condotti flagship.

Sotirios's sons Giorgio and Costantino took over on his death in 1932. Serpenti bracelet-watches appeared at the end of the 1940s, and in the 1950s, when Rome was "Hollywood on the Tiber", clients included Elizabeth Taylor, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman and Gina Lollobrigida. The house developed bold, structured settings in yellow gold, chose gems for colour, and in the 1960s fitted Serpenti scales with enamel and stones.

Stores opened in New York, Geneva, Monte Carlo and Paris in the 1970s. Bulgari Time was founded in Switzerland in the early 1980s, fragrance followed in 1993, and the company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in 1995. In 2011 the family sold its 50.4% controlling stake to LVMH in an all-share deal worth €4.3 billion. Lucia Silvestri has been jewellery creative director since 2013.