Grand Tour of Wonders

Art lover and tireless traveler, Maurizio Leo Placuzzi, now COO of SICIS in Ravenna, world leader in deluxe mosaic decoration, wagered that he could do it. And thanks to an order for the Saudi Sheikh Al-Gosaibi, Placuzzi made himself known and the business began to grow: first the commission for the mosaic cladding at the Hotel Plaza in New York, then for the spa of the Ritz in Paris, the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, the Burj Al-Arab in Dubai, the first 7-star hotel in the world, and The 13 Hotel in Macau. The icing on the cake was the 400-square meter showroom opened three years ago in Hong Kong, as a tribute to one of the fastest growing markets.  

Mosaic cladding, but also designer furniture, furnishings, watches, sophisticated eyewear frames and high-end jewelery. In just a few decades, the SICIS brand has begun to explore the different sectors of luxury goods, from personal items to interior design. And since ambition runss in the family, today Gioa Placuzzi, 31, is Creative Director of SICIS Jewels, the high-end jewelery division of the company. Having graduated from Bocconi University, Gioa studied gemology at the Gemological Institute of America in London, and is the face behind the fascinating collection of the Grand Tour, inspired by the educational travels, starting in the eighteenth century, traditionally undertaken by the scions of aristocratic families throughout Europe.

Ambition is in the DNA of the Placuzzi family, which goes strong all over the word

The collection catalog is a veritable gallop through the history of the art that inspires these modern jewels of the highest quality, crafted with the same technique used for the micro mosaics in vogue in the eighteenth century, admired by queens and noblewomen of the European courts.  

From the filatura, with which tiny tesserae are obtained, to the malmischiati technique in which tesserae are mixed to create infinite shades that can almost rival painting, SICIS jewels combine micro mosaics with gold of different carats, stones, gems and diamonds. The sidereal colors of ‘The Farewells’ by Umberto Boccioni (1911) inspired the ‘Enchanted Destiny’ line, just as the statue ‘Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix’, portrayed by Antonio Canova reclining gloriously on a chaise longue, inspired the iconic leopard of ‘Damisa Gold’. This regal and exotic animal with the potential to amaze today embellishes rings and necklaces in diamonds, sapphires and topazes worn by equally daring and sophisticated women.

And whilst the kaleidoscope of colors of ‘Bluebells Fall’ is inspired by the dreamlike and childish drawings of Marc Chagall (‘The prophet Elijah’, 1971), the infinite dots that convey the motion of the ‘Girl Running on a Balcony’ (1912) by Giacomo Balla, forerunner of Italian Futurism, are reflected in the flowers of the ‘Bohemian Dream’ line. Unmissable in the great wealth of production by SICIS, which makes reference to the most noble works the history of Italian and European art, is the nod to the blue starry sky of the mausoleum by Galla Placidia in Ravenna. One of the oldest and most famous celestial night-sky vaults, today also recalled in the tanzanite, diamonds, micromosaic and white gold of the Infinity Ring.