Attila Kiss: At the Helm of Italy's Luxury Manufacturing Renaissance

It's a new era for Made in Italy. The question isn't whether traditional craftsmanship can survive modernity, but whether modernity can survive without it.

By GIOVANNA G. BONOMO

June 2025

Quietly understanding Attila Kiss, one must first grasp the suffocating embrace of 1980s Hungary. Here, in a land where "choice" was a capitalist myth, every loaf of bread, every pair of shoes, bore the same stamp of state ownership. "You didn't select," Kiss recalls, his voice still edged with the old frustration. "You acquiesced." His family, like all others, navigated a world scrubbed of differentiation—a world where ambition withered under the glare of collective sameness. Yet even then, he sensed the cracks in the system: the quiet rebellion of a mother bartering for secondhand jeans, the illicit thrill of a Western radio broadcast. These flickers of autonomy would later calcify into a philosophy: Chaos is not an obstacle. It is materia prima (raw material). Arriving in Italy as a teenager, closing the doors of a budding professional sailing career behind him, Kiss found himself adrift in a new sea, this time of contradictions. Milan’s fashion houses flourished in a delicate balance of creative chaos and refined elegance;  Tuscan winemakers worshipped tradition while courting global markets. For a boy raised on Soviet pragmatism, the transition was less cultural shock than existential unraveling. "I became a detective," he says, describing those early years. "Every gesture, every negotiation—a clue to decipher." He learned to parse the hieroglyphics of Italian hand gestures, to distinguish the simpatico from the manipulative. His name garnered curiosity. 

As he was being rebuilt in Italy,  he discovered that adaptation required not mimicry but reinvention. "The Italians," he muses, "they think with their hearts first. To lead them, you must speak to the heart—then justify with the mind." This early learning is a critical understanding of the Italian mindset that guides his work today—presiding over an ecosystem of seeming contrasts: Gruppo Florence, a coalition of family-owned Italian luxury manufacturers, each a sovereign state of ego and tradition. One may picture Medici princes forced to share a throne—but this is not the case. Kiss navigates the responsibility of presiding over 40 family businesses with the delicacy of a bomb defuser, asking questions designed to lead them—gently, inevitably—toward the future of Made in Italy. "We're exploring new languages, entering new segments, and showcasing our manufacturing know-how with visionary spirit." With great wealth comes great responsibility, and for Kiss, this responsibility is not a burden. It is a privilege and legacy. "To stop adapting is to die," he reflects from our interviews in Florence and Rome, sharing his thoughts on life in Italy, the Gruppo Florence story, leadership, and the future of Made in Italy.

A Visionary Enterprise

Founded in October 2020 by three visionary companies that initiated the creation of an investor consortium, the Group has grown under the leadership of CEO Attila Kiss to unite 38 entrepreneurial families into a single industrial platform. Today, Gruppo Florence stands as Italy’s leading integrated luxury manufacturing hub. In May 2023, private equity firm Permira signed a binding agreement to acquire a majority stake, while the original entrepreneurs, management, and VAM reinvested significantly, and Fondo Italiano d’Investimento retained a minority share.

Under Kiss’s leadership and chaired by Francesco Trapani, Gruppo Florence has grown into a guardian of Italian craftsmanship, serving over 100 top global luxury brands. With 70+ production sites across nine Italian regions, 4,800+ employees, and a 2022 turnover exceeding €670 million, the group manages the entire supply chain—from design and prototyping to engineering and quality control. Producing over 7 million items annually (55% of the manufacturer’s production value in the global luxury sector), Gruppo Florence reinforces Italy’s dominance in luxury manufacturing. More than just a manufacturer, Gruppo Florence is a strategic partner, blending tradition with innovation to elevate the industry.

Protecting Living Heritage

At its core, Gruppo Florence is built upon invaluable expertise inherited from companies that embody profound Italian value. These workshops are not merely factories but repositories of centuries-old traditions, where artisans serve as custodians of Italy's cultural and manufacturing patrimony.

"We are not collectors of companies," Kiss explains. "We are architects of a new ecosystem where craftsmanship meets cutting-edge technology, and survival hinges on adaptation." The mission is urgent: to shield Italy's family-owned workshops—the unsung heroes behind luxury's shimmering façade—from the relentless pressures of globalization and generational decline.