Unoaerre marks 100 years with exhibition, stamp and new plant

Arezzo’s goldsmith identity has always been a negotiation between handcraft and scale, and Unoaerre has spent 100 years making that tension look productive. The company, founded by Carlo Zucchi and Leopoldo Gori on March 15, 1926, is marking its centenary with an exhibition, a commemorative stamp and a new manufacturing plant, while reaffirming the same proposition that built its reputation: “Made in Italy” still carries weight when the workmanship is real.

That credibility rests on more than heritage language. Unoaerre says it has produced more than 40 million wedding bands in a century, or roughly 300,000 a year, a volume that places it firmly in industrial jewelry. Yet the brand’s history is also full of technical milestones that kept the products from feeling anonymous. Among the first companies in the mid-20th century to use microfusion, Unoaerre later introduced a seamless wedding ring made from a single block of gold, the sort of construction detail that matters when a plain band has to feel refined rather than generic. The company’s name itself comes from 1AR, the first provincial hallmark associated with Arezzo, a reminder that this was never a brand invented far from the bench.

The centennial also underscores how Unoaerre moved beyond the wedding counter into a wider jewelry vocabulary. It collaborated with Disney in the 1950s and later worked with Warner Bros., Fiorucci and Alessi, evidence of a company comfortable translating Italian goldsmithing into more accessible, everyday forms without losing its identity. Unoaerre says it distributes gold in more than 40 countries and holds RJC certification, a pairing that speaks to how modern buyers now judge luxury: by origin, yes, but also by standards, traceability and the ability to deliver consistent quality at scale.

The anniversary program includes “Polvere di Stelle,” an immersive installation by Felice Limosani at the Palazzo della Fraternita dei Laici in Arezzo from May 9 to June 8, 2026. That cultural frame fits a company that opened the first Italian museum dedicated to goldsmith art on March 7, 1988, and has built a collection of more than 2,000 works tracing design and jewelry history from the 1920s through the 1990s. Leadership has also stayed in the family orbit: Sergio Squarcialupi entered the business in 2012, Maria Cristina Squarcialupi is now president, and Andrea Squarcialupi is a board member.

The centenary arrives with a modern test attached. On May 10, 2026, Unoaerre said it was restoring systems after a cyberattack that reportedly involved a ransom demand of 3.8 million euros in bitcoin, though the company said no data was lost and normal operations would resume the next morning. It is a blunt reminder that industrial jewelry today must answer to more than craftsmanship alone. It must also prove it can protect the infrastructure that keeps a century of reputation moving forward.