Rome has never been just a city. It is theater, memory, muse, cinema, faith, flesh and dream. And from July 12 to 16, 2025, it also became Alta Moda. For five days the capital was transformed into a diffuse and visionary stage, welcoming Dolce&Gabbana‘s Grand Tour, which brought fashion back to its noblest essence: storytelling, identity, culture. Not just a fashion week, but an immersive experience involving art, history, craftsmanship, architecture, tourism and Italian beauty.
A monumental, spectacular and poetic event, conceived by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana as an ode to the sartorial excellence and cultural heritage of our country. An embrace between Rome and the Maison, charged with symbols, emotions and vision.
“Rome is a place of the heart. A city that has always excited and inspired us. It was time to put all our love for Italy on stage, right in its capital city “, said Domenico Dolce.”Rome does not need guests to shine: she is the star herself. It is the city everyone wants to see at least once in a lifetime. And this year, they all came .”
A TRIPTYCH OF EXCELLENCE
Haute Couture, Haute Tailoring, Haute Jewelry: a triptych of experiences that revived the glorious eras of the eternal city, combining the luxury of materials with the symbolic weight of places. The event, sponsored by Roma Capitale and supported by the Ministry of Culture, staged fashion shows and installations among imperial ruins, Baroque bridges, ancient residences and film sets, restoring Rome’s role as not only a political but also a creative and international capital.
A project rooted in 2012, the year of the first edition of Dolce&Gabbana Alta Moda, with iconic stops such as Taormina, Venice, Como, Naples, Alberobello, and Syracuse. But Rome – by the stylists’ own admission – is something more: it is the center of myth, the cradle of sacred and profane beauty, the heart of Italian identity.
“We always dreamed of parading here. The Forums represent the beginning of everything: history, power, culture. Rome is the beating heart of our creative narrative ” Dolce recounted again.
THE CALENDAR OF WONDER
The debut, Saturday, July 12, featured Via Veneto, emblem of the Dolce Vita, with the opening of the Secret Dolce Vita exhibition curated by Edoardo Dionea Cicconi. An open-air installation, visible until July 17, that tells – with unpublished images – the splendor of the 1950s and 1960s between cinema, glamour and fashion. A tribute to Fellini’s Rome, divas in chignons and paparazzi in tuxedos.
On Sunday, July 13,High Jewelry shone among the marbles and pools of water at the Maritime Theater of Villa Adriana in Tivoli. A dialogue between precious stones and imperial architecture, between craftsmanship and timeless classicism.
July 14 was the highlight: the Haute Couture Collection paraded among the vestiges of the Roman Forum, with models walking on transparent catwalks suspended among the millennia-old columns. It was a hymn to the power and grace of ancient Rome, with gowns that recalled togas and mosaics, gold brocade bustiers and iridescent silks like Pompeian frescoes.
On Tuesday, July 15, the Tiber served as a mirror forAlta Sartoria, a men’s fashion show staged on the Ponte Sant’Angelo, framed by Bernini’s sculpted angels. It was a heavenly and powerful vision, with Baroque dialoguing with Italian sartorial sophistication. A few meters away, Castel Sant’Angelo, the protagonist of future restoration projects sponsored by the Maison.
Finally, on Wednesday, July 16, the final celebration was held at Cinecittà, in the Ancient Rome set: a return to cinema, to the origins of visual magic, where lights, sounds and scents told the story of Dolce&Gabbana’s last Roman night.
ROME, INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS
Underlining the strategic value of the event was Alessandro Onorato, Councillor for Major Events, Fashion, Tourism and Sport of Roma Capitale, who believed in the project from the beginning:
“We strongly wanted to host this unique event. Dolce&Gabbana had never shown in Rome, and today it does so thanks to work that began three years and nine months ago, with the aim of returning the city to its rightful role: that of a modern, international and attractive metropolis .”
The numbers speak for themselves: more than 10,000 rooms booked months in advance, more than half in 5-star hotels; more than 2,500 professionals employed including artists, maestros, technicians, make-up artists, seamstresses, staff and fitters; 650 international clients of the maison; and 20 local suppliers directly involved. A concrete, important, tangible economic spin-off.
“This event is an extraordinary lever for the promotion of Rome and all of Italy. It means quality tourism, global visibility and real investment in the territory. We are no longer the city of “no”: today projects are realized ” said Onorato.
FASHION AS AN ACTIVE CULTURE:THE EXHIBITION
The relationship between Dolce&Gabbana and Rome is also cultural. Proof of this is the exhibition From the Heart to the Hands – Dolce&Gabbana, at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni until Aug. 13. Curated by Florence Müller, with staging by Agence Galuchat and production by IMG, the exhibition is a multisensory journey between Haute Couture, folklore, music, architecture and theater. It brings together more than two hundred unique Dolce&Gabbana creations. A multisensory journey into the brand’s creative universe, which after Milan and Paris arrives in the Capital with brand-new rooms and content, testifying to a deep and vibrant bond between the brand and its host city. The exhibition itinerary unfolds in a succession of large immersive rooms over an area of about 1,500 square meters, exploring the brand’s creative and unconventional thinking in the world of luxury, elegant, sensual and unique, but also ironic, irreverent and revolutionary. The creations are told through a series of themes that highlight the many Italian cultural influences at Dolce&Gabbana’s roots: from art to architecture, from fine craftsmanship to folklore, from music to opera, ballet, theater, and, of course, suggestions of the “dolce vita.” An itinerary that celebrates the creative and artisanal spirit of Made in Italy.
“Dress is the first message you give to the world. It is confidence, it is identity “, Domenico Dolce explained. “In Rome, every detail tells something. We do not replicate history: we interpret it with imagination, memory and passion .”
But the Maison’s contribution does not stop at aesthetics. Dolce&Gabbana will finance the artistic lighting project of the Roman Forum-Palatine, which will be completed by March 2029, as well as the restoration of Castel Sant’Angelo, which will include frescoes, statues, historic courtyards and the Chapel of Leo X.
