Kering Accademia per le Eccellenze: the hands that carry heritage forward
Group
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November 06, 2026
Kering Accademia per le Eccellenze: the hands that carry heritage forward
In a Milan workshop, under a jeweler’s loupe, a goldsmith inspects a new piece. It’s work that demands extraordinary skill and patience: hours spent in a confined space, perfecting details measured in fractions of a millimeter. For generations, these techniques have been passed down from master to apprentice. But as experienced artisans retire and fewer successors enter the profession, the luxury industry faces a pressing question: to whom, and how, can this knowledge be carried forward? The Kering Accademia per le Eccellenze was created to address this challenge, safeguarding Italy’s artisanal heritage – while ensuring it remains a living, evolving force for generations to come.
Kering Italia President Sabina Belli recognized the shift more than a decade ago while CEO of Pomellato, the Milanese House that pioneered a more informal, wearable approach to jewelry: the demand for exceptional savoir-faire was increasing, while the number of artisans able to sustain it at the highest level was gradually declining. Traditional craftsmanship risked being lost.
Kering Accademia Per le Eccellenze
In response, she created the Virtuosi program, in partnership with Milan’s Galdus Goldsmith Academy, to train young students in traditional and innovative fine jewelry-making techniques. Since its creation in 2018, around 250 aspiring artisans have completed the program, with approximately 90% going on to find employment, whetherat Pomellato, whithin other luxury Houses, or establishing their own workshops.
If one House could make such an impact alone, what could a Group-wide initiative achieve? And so, on April 15, 2026—the third anniversary of Made in Italy Day—inside the frescoed Palazzo Settimanni at Gucci’s Archive in Florence, the Kering Accademia per le Eccellenze was officially launched.
Building the future of Made in Italy
For Belli, this is precisely what matters. In her role as President of Kering Italia, she carries on her mission of helping advance industrial excellence, innovation and sustainability across the luxury value chain, while strengthening the artisanal savoir-faire on which it depends. Indeed, her own career is rooted in Italian luxury craftsmanship, and in an understanding that safeguarding these traditions also means helping them evolve – transforming them, as she says, from inherited techniques into dynamic, contemporary professions.
At the Bottega Veneta's Accademia Labor et Ingenium.
With its first academic year now under way, the Accademia turns that conviction into practice. 1500 students have enrolled in its inaugural year, with numbers expected to grow progressively to at least 2,000 students annually. Its home at MIND also places the institution within a wider ecosystem linking learning directly to opportunity; from November 3 to 5, MIND will host OrientaTalenti, an education and career-guidance initiative that connects young people with training providers, employers, universities, ITS Academies and public institutions, making tangible pathways into skilled professions more visible to the next generation.
A network built around Italian craft
From its headquarters at the Valore Italia Campus in the MIND Milano Innovation District, the Accademia operates as a distributed learning ecosystem connecting Kering Houses, educational institutions and regional centers of excellence across Italy. Its ambition is not to create a single school in a single location, but to strengthen and connect the expertise that already exists.
The training programs already established at Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Brioni, Pomellato and Kering Eyewear continue to operate in their own environments, now reinforced by shared standards, common certification, and a broader collective vision. Around them, a network of educational partners contributes complementary expertise: vocational training institutions, specialist academies, and research capabilities in technology and innovation from various institutions. In July 2026, the first Memoranda of Understanding with eight local educational institutions (ACOF; AFOL; CAPAC; Galdus; HModa; ITS Cosmo; Istituto Modartech; and SCHOLA), were indeed signed at the Campus, marking a significant step in the development of the network.
It's a decentralized model that reflects the reality of Italian craftsmanship itself: skills inseparable from place, developed in regional centers over decades and, in some cases, centuries. At the same time, it acknowledges that this landscape is changing – tomorrow’s artisans must master traditional techniques while also meeting new cultural and technological expectations. The Accademia per le Eccellenze actually brings luxury Houses, educational institutions, businesses, culture and innovation into dialogue.
The Accademia also draws on a diverse range of perspectives through the “Comitato di pensiero”, a strategic committee bringing together experts in brand strategy, design, media and publishing, jewelry manufacturing, cultural heritage and policy, and education. Comprising Andrea Batilla, Alba Cappellieri, Angelo Crespi, Stefania Lazzaroni, Carlo Mazzoni, Andrea Raselli, Tommaso Sacchi and Arduino Salatin, the committee acts as an advisory body, helping shape the institution’s long-term vision and ensuring its educational approach responds to the transformations reshaping luxury.
Expanding the landscape of savoir-faire
Four historic domains anchor the curriculum today: ready-to-wear, menswear tailoring, leather goods, jewelry and eyewear. Across these disciplines, students learn the techniques that define Italian excellence – from goldsmithing, stone-setting and gemology to leather construction, tailoring, pattern-making and hand-finishing. Alongside these traditions, students develop the capabilities that luxury will increasingly require: AI and digital tools applied to craft, sustainable and circular materials, entrepreneurship, and atelier management.
But this is only the beginning. Over time, the Accademia will expand into other fields that reflect the breadth of Italy's artisanal landscape, including ceramics and porcelain, eyewear and textile crafts. Open to both internal and external talent, its learning model is equally expansive, with courses ranging from single-day masterclasses and upskilling and reskilling tracks for artisans moving between crafts, to diploma programs of up to seven years – some recognized under Italian law. Rather than prescribing a single route into the industry, it offers multiple pathways that support learners at different stages of their careers.
What emerges, then, is neither a conservatory devoted to preserving the past unchanged nor a technical institute disconnected from the cultural meaning of craft. Instead, the Accademia treats heritage as the foundation for innovation, creating space for reinterpretation and renewal. It is, in other words, a living model of transmission.
For Kering—a Group whose Houses are deeply woven into the fabric of Italy’s industrial and artisanal territories—the Accademia represents another step in a long-term commitment to Italy’s manufacturing heritage – and its future. Following the Accademia’s launch in April 2026, Kering set out its next strategic chapter, ReconKering, which places renewed emphasis on industrial know-how, training and skills transmission. The Accademia is one way that commitment takes shape: by investing directly in the people who will carry Italian craftsmanship forward.
