To mark its 140th anniversary, Bulgari has released a collection of high jewellery, watches and accessories that is its largest and most expensive to date. KaterinaPerez.com contributor Rachael Taylor travelled to Rome – the Eternal City – to discover the new Aeterna collection, speak to Bulgari chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin, and find out why now is the time for a €40 million necklace!

Stepping inside the Terme di Diocleziano, a historical monument that was once the largest baths in Ancient Rome, you instantly feel a permeating sense of history. The high vaulted ceilings, the stylishly crumbling brickwork, the statues and tombs left behind by a bygone era: all these markers of the past connect you to a lost world that our times can only imagine. This is a space meant to inspire, which is exactly why Bulgari chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin chose it as the venue for the launch of the jeweller's Aeterna High Jewellery collection in Rome in May 2024.

"What we are crafting and proposing to our clients are discoveries, beauty, emotions, which is not only the jewel or the watch itself alone, but an overall experience," he says. "Some entertainment that money cannot buy, and that without Bulgari they would never have access to."

Sitting in the baths' open courtyard later that night, watching models – including Carla Bruni and Isabella Rossellini – traverse the tiles under a darkening Roma sky, certainly felt otherworldly. As passion-rousing classical music filled the Ludovisi Cloisters, competing with the cawing of birds flying overhead, the models came close enough to show off the Aeterna jewels they had been selected to wear. Babin watched on, with Bulgari ambassadors Anne Hathaway, Priyanka Chopra, Liu Yifei, Hikari Mori, and Shu Qi by his side. The catwalk show was followed by an al fresco gala dinner, with guests coming together on one long table to eat and drink from Aeterna-themed dinnerware.

This evening of celebration kickstarted 10 days of Bulgari Aeterna at the Terme di Diocleziano, with clients flying in from all over the world to see what new treasures the jeweller had to offer. For those in attendance, it was a trip well made, as the high jewellery collection is the brand's most spectacular to date. Bulgari is celebrating its 140th anniversary this year. The famous Italian jewellery house was founded in Rome in 1884 by Greek silversmith Sotirio Voulgaris (who would later change his name to Bulgari to make it easier for his clients to pronounce). It has called the city home ever since, and this latest collection is a celebration of all things Roman.

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