Florence, Italy

Opened last year, the Gucci Garden is nestled within the historic Palazzo della Mercanzia, which dates back to 1337, just next to the Uffizi on the Piazza della Signoria. It houses the Gucci Garden Galleria exhibition spaces and a boutique that sells exclusive items and one-of-a-kind pieces. Divided into a series of themed rooms, the Gucci Garden Galleria narrates the House’s contemporary vision while celebrating its archives by displaying vintage pieces, old advertising campaigns, artisanal memorabilia, and retro objects. It is also home to the Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura, a restaurant specially curated for Gucci by the three-Michelin starred chef.

Florence, Italy

Located behind the magnificent Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an open-air museum with an extensive collection of architecture, artwork, and a Medici-designed layout that inspired many a court in Europe. Originally created in the mid-16th century by Niccolò Pericoli, known as Tribolo, the current layout of the Boboli Gardens is grand, geometrical and symmetrical, and stands as one of the most important exemplars of the Italian-style garden. Gucci is proud to participate in Primavera di Boboli (Spring in the Boboli Gardens), a multi-year cultural project that aims to restore and improve the Gardens.

Rome, Italy

A true collector’s paradise with décor essentially unchanged since the early 19th Century, complete with an original rail mechanism that operates the retractable store window, and a secret bookcase door opening to backrooms, likely the setting for many clandestine meetings through the ages. Refined and carefully curated, the store is a cabinet of curiosities wrapped in its original boiserie and blown-glass bookcases, and populated with works on Roman history, literature, botany and medicine. Here, religion, science, art and rare first editions meet on the shelves. Aside from humanistic collectors, bibliophiles and those in search of wonder, a roll-call of the famous has visited this dimly lit and quiet bookshop: Aristotle Onassis, Greta Garbo, Lord Westbury, the author Leonardo Sciascia and Pope John XXIII. A trio of antiquarians/artistic directors–Valentina La Rocca, Alessandro Lancia and Alfio Mazza—has managed the Antica Libreria Cascianelli since 2014, infusing new life and aesthetic elegance into the old store. The spaces are now used for book readings, art book presentations, fine art exhibitions, music events, and film screenings. Mirroring the eclectic nature of its collections within, the street-level store windows are mini theatrical stage sets, designed to delight those seeking visual adventures. Significantly, a collection of antique tomes that come from the Antica Libreria Cascianelli is available at the Gucci Garden boutique in Florence.

Los Angeles, USA

Founded in 1899, the cemetery was an integral part of the growth of early Hollywood and Los Angeles. Daeida Wilcox Beveridge, known as the “Mother of Hollywood,” gave the town its name and rests in the Cathedral Mausoleum here, along with other original Hollywood families. Paramount Studios was built on the unused southern half of the Hollywood Cemetery site, and it is still in operation today. It is the cemetery of choice for Hollywood’s great studios owners, as well as writers, directors, and performers. Hollywood Forever witnessed the birth of the motion picture industry and is the resting place of many early film pioneers including Jesse Lasky and Cecil B DeMille. The cemetery also celebrates life, with an outdoor summer concert series on the Fairbanks lawn. Though it is known for its celebrity residents and cultural programmes, the facility is still a fully functional cemetery, funeral home and crematorium, that serves the needs of thousands of Los Angeles families annually. Hollywood Forever Cemetery also has a special connection to the House and Alessandro Michele, after he attended a tribute event for Johnny Ramone in 2016 hosted by the musician’s widow Linda Ramone. The location inspired pieces for the 2017 spring summer collection. Later, a sunglasses collection channelling ‘70s colour and form, detailed with all-over crystals, was named “Hollywood Forever.” The landmark is also a setting for scenes in the new Gucci Guilty video campaign, which features Academy Award-winning actor Jared Leto together with multi-platinum singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey.

Seoul, South Korea

The first Gucci Place unveiled in Korea shares Gucci’s love of contemporary art and design. Coco Capitán: Is It Tomorrow Yet?, the first solo exhibition in Asia by Coco Capitán, the young Spanish artist and photographer who is a good friend of the House, was held early this year at the Daelim Museum. Capitán’s exhibition presented over 150 artworks in a wide range of media, including photography, painting, handwriting, video, and installation.

To mark the inauguration of the six new Places, the brand collaborated with several talented creatives to visit them and to record their impressions. The six artists invited to participate were: London-based artist Isabella Cotier, Italian artist and performer Silvia Calderoni, German insect breeder Adrian Kozakiewicz, Australian musician and songwriter Alex Cameron, Spanish photographer Coco Capitán, and American entrepreneur Brandice Daniel.