A quiet, strategic challenge is unfolding in the Arezzo goldsmithing district, which was founded 100 years ago by the company Gori &Zucchi, the predecessor of today’s UnoAerre, which brought a goldsmithing tradition – begun by the Etruscans and perfected during the Renaissance – to an industrial scale. The challenge at hand is not merely digital, energy-related or environmental; rather, it can be summarised as a genuine ‘productive transition’.
The long-established jewellery manufacturing industry is shrinking. In 2024, exports saw a ‘surge’ (from 3.9 to 8 billion euros), driven by rising gold prices and, above all, by purchases from Turkey, which – following a change in tax legislation – snapped up Arezzo’s gold chains and semi-finished products, causing the turnover of a handful of companies in this sector to skyrocket. But as soon as the legislation changed, the jewellery sector began to decline once more, weakened by global competition and the war in the Middle East – a region historically dear to Arezzo. Around the same time, an industry that had long remained in the shadows – and which had been accused, in reports by economic institutions such as Bankitalia and Irpet, of having low added value – experienced explosive growth: this is the industry of gold refining and investment gold ingots, which encompasses the recovery of precious metals from industrial scrap and waste, as well as the manufacture of machinery for producing these very ingots.
In 2025, exports of gold and jewellery from Arezzo plummeted to 4.5 billion euros, a fall of 41 per cent. In the same year, exports of gold bullion rose by 128 per cent, reaching nearly 11 billion euros. Among the top 15 Tuscan companies by turnover in 2025, four places are occupied by gold bar producers: Italpreziosi (€5.9 billion in revenue, up 50 per cent on 2024, with a profit of €5.2 million and 96 employees); Chimet (€5.7 billion in revenue, in line with 2024, with a profit of €41.5 million and 150 employees); Tca (2.4 billion in revenue, a profit of 3.8 million and 150 employees) and Safimet (1.3 billion in revenue, a profit of 6.3 million and 70 employees). Total: 15.2 billion and 470 employees. These four companies, all family-run, are the main drivers of growth in Tuscan exports.
In the first quarter of 2026, the jewellery sector saw a further 49 per cent drop in overseas sales, setting off more than a few alarm bells amongst companies and workers. At the same time, exports of gold bullion rose from nearly two billion euros to over six billion, a jump of four billion in the space of three months. This result was again influenced by the rise in the price of gold (which, however, also applies to jewellery). However, in a growing market for safe-haven assets, it was Arezzo’s ‘know-how’ that reaped the greatest rewards: the precious metals recovery and refining industries (the process of purifying metals), as well as chemical and mechanical innovation, are well-established and at the cutting edge here. It is one of the few areas in Europe that brings together all the expertise required to produce ingots. ‘First and foremost,’ explains Luca Benvenuti, managing director of Chimet – a company owned by the Squarcialupi family, which also owns UnoAerre – ‘you need access to the metal and must certify its origin. For the past six years, we have used only gold recovered from industrial scrap and waste, an area in which we specialise. We have a fully circular process and certified sources.’ Chimet produces ingots weighing from over 1 kg up to standard 12.5 kg bars certified to Good Delivery standards, which are supplied to banks (primarily Swiss), financial institutions and other professional operators.
No one denies that ingot production requires fewer workers than other industrial sectors: ‘We employ a few people, not dozens,’ explains Benvenuti, ‘but this activity is a strategic asset for Italia, because we process critical raw materials and recover materials such as platinum, rhodium and ruthenium, thereby generating GDP and exports.’