Misunderstood luxury
" Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends ," wrote Coco Chanel. Yet today, this word carries with it a weight of judgment that isn't its own. Luxury has become synonymous with excess, waste, superficiality. But is this really the case? Or have we perhaps forgotten the deeper meaning of a word that has spanned millennia of history, shaping cultures and fueling humanity's creative genius?
This is a journey to rediscover authentic luxury, one that has nothing to do with empty ostentation, but is rooted in the pursuit of beauty, quality, and excellence. A journey that takes us from the Latin origins of the word to the Italian Renaissance, the historical moment that forever redefined the meaning of "luxury."
Etymology: What does LUXURY really mean?
The word "luxury" derives from the Latin luxus , a term that contained a fascinating ambiguity. Luxus, in fact, indicated both lush abundance, the exuberant growth of nature, and excess, overflowing beyond the limit. It wasn't necessarily a negative term: it simply described that which went beyond the ordinary, beyond the bare minimum necessary for survival.
In classical Latin, we also find luxuria , which literally meant "luxuriance" before taking on moral connotations. Think of the fields after the rain, the vegetation bursting forth in spring: this was luxus, the generous abundance of life itself.
It's only with the transition to the vernacular and then to modern Romance languages that the word begins to take on more complex meanings. The Italian "lusso," the French "luxe," and the Spanish "lujo" retain this duality: on the one hand, desirable abundance, on the other, the risk of excess. But it's important to understand that in its original meaning, luxury wasn't the superfluous: it was the luxuriant, the flourishing, that which testifies to the vitality and richness of life.
Luxury in the ancient world
The Greeks and Romans had a complex relationship with luxury. On the one hand, they admired it, cultivated it, and displayed it. On the other, they feared it as a threat to civic virtue, to the austerity of morals that had made Rome great.
Philosophers debated: what is necessary and what is superfluous? Seneca wrote of his luxurious villas while preaching Stoic temperance. Cato the Censor thundered against the Eastern luxuries that corrupted Roman youth. This debate reveals a fundamental truth: luxury has never been simply a question of objects, but of values, of identity, of a worldview.
The famous sumptuary laws—which limited the use of fine fabrics, jewelry, and lavish banquets—were born not for economic but political reasons. Luxury was feared by those in power because it allowed the nouveau riche to compete symbolically with the traditional aristocracy. Controlling luxury meant controlling the social order.
The Renaissance: When Luxury Becomes Art
And this is where the story changes radically. The Italian Renaissance didn't just legitimize luxury: it transformed it into something entirely new. For the first time in Western history, luxury became a cultural investment, a form of patronage, an expression of intellectual refinement as well as material wealth.
Why was the Renaissance so important in redefining the concept of luxury? For three fundamental reasons.
First , the idea that beauty and well-crafted work have intrinsic value, not just symbolic. A precious fabric is valuable not because it costs a lot, but because it requires skill, knowledge, and talent. Lorenzo de' Medici didn't commission works of art for ostentation, but because he sincerely believed that beauty elevates the human soul.
Second : luxury is becoming culturally democratized. It is no longer the sole preserve of princes and nobles. Florentine merchants, Venetian bankers, and Genoese shipowners are creating a new class of patrons who invest in art, architecture, fashion, and furnishings not by birthright but by cultural choice. Luxury becomes a matter of taste, not just of royal blood.
Third , and perhaps most importantly, the Italian Renaissance invented the modern idea of excellent craftsmanship. In Florence, Venice, and Milan, workshops were born where master goldsmiths, weavers, cabinetmakers, and glassmakers took their art to unprecedented heights. Luxury was no longer just gold and gems, but the skill with which they were crafted. It wasn't the precious material itself, but the skill of the hands that transformed it.
Think of the velvets of Genoa, the brocades of Venice, the majolica of Faenza, the glass of Murano. These weren't luxury products because they were expensive: they were expensive because they required years of apprenticeship, secrets passed down from generation to generation, and a total dedication to the perfection of detail. Renaissance luxury is the celebration of human excellence.
Italian courts become true laboratories of modern luxury. In Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino, luxury intertwines with culture: there is no separation between beauty and utility, between aesthetics and function. A book is not just for reading; it is a design object with precious illuminations and refined bindings. A dress is not just for covering oneself; it is a work of art to be worn.
From the Renaissance to Today: The Italian Heritage
This Renaissance revolution in the concept of luxury has never stopped in Italy. There is a direct continuity between the Florentine workshops of the fifteenth century and the Milanese ateliers of today, between the master glassmakers of Murano and contemporary designers.
Made in Italy —which the entire world associates with luxury—isn't brand marketing: it's the living legacy of that Renaissance tradition. When we say "Italian luxury," we mean something very specific: the combination of high-quality materials, masterful craftsmanship, design that blends aesthetics and functionality, and obsessive attention to detail.
There's a profound difference between Italian luxury and that of other traditions. Italian luxury has never been monumental, ostentatious, or exaggerated. It has always been discreet, refined, imbued with that sprezzatura —the elegant nonchalance—that Baldassarre Castiglione described in his "The Courtier" as early as 1528. Italian luxury doesn't shout: it whispers. It doesn't impress with quantity, but conquers with quality.
This is the legacy we continue today, in every sector where Italy excels: from fashion to automotive, from interior design to jewelry, from food and wine to furniture.
We don't produce luxury: we produce excellence that becomes luxury precisely because it is excellent.
Luxury is not superfluous
And here we come to the heart of the matter: why isn't luxury superfluous? Why is this distinction fundamental?
The superfluous is what we don't need and adds no real value to our lives. It's accumulation for its own sake, quantity without quality, appearance without substance. The superfluous is the tenth pair of cheap shoes that will be ruined in six months.
Luxury, on the other hand, is that hand-made, bespoke shoe that lasts twenty years, that adapts to your foot, that carries with it the story of the master shoemaker who created it. Luxury is an investment, not an expense. It's durability versus planned obsolescence. It's beauty that stands the test of time.
In an age obsessed with fast consumption and low prices, true luxury is almost an act of resistance. It's the choice to choose one object that will cost more but last a lifetime, rather than ten cheap objects that will end up in landfill. From this perspective, luxury is more sustainable than the fast-everything economy.
But there's an even deeper dimension: luxury isn't just in the object, it's in the experience, the emotion, the meaning. A very high-quality fabric isn't luxury just because it costs more: it's luxury because when you touch it, you feel the difference, when you wear it, it makes you feel different, when you look at it after years, it retains its beauty. Luxury is this dialogue between the object and its owner, it's this ability to bring daily pleasure.
True luxury isn't seen, it's felt. It's in the hand gliding over a perfectly polished surface. It's in the comfort of a custom-made shoe. It's in the security of knowing that what you own was made well, with care, with respect for the person who created it and for those who will use it.
Rehabilitating luxury
It's time to rehabilitate the word "luxury" and restore its noblest meaning. We're not talking about excess or ostentation. We're talking about a conscious choice for quality, beauty, and excellence.
In a world that pushes us towards low cost and disposable, choosing authentic luxury means:
- Respect artisanal work and skills that are at risk of disappearing
- Invest in objects that last rather than contribute to the culture of waste
- Surround yourself with beauty that nourishes the soul every day
- Recognize the value of excellence and reward it
Luxury, in its truest sense, is not a privilege for the few: it is a value accessible to anyone who chooses quality over quantity, the durable over the ephemeral, the beautiful over the merely functional. You don't have to be rich to appreciate luxury: you just have to be aware.
When we choose a truly quality product—be it an item of clothing, a home decor item, an accessory, or a pair of shoes—we're not making a superfluous purchase. We're making a lifestyle choice. We're saying that what matters to us is beauty, well-crafted quality, and the story each object carries.
Authentic luxury means returning to that exuberant abundance of the Latin luxus: not sterile accumulation, but the richness of life that arises when we choose what is truly beautiful, truly well-made, truly capable of giving us joy.
Let's rediscover luxury for what it has always been in the great Italian tradition: not the superfluous, but the essential done in a sublime way.