Bvlgari’s Serpenti Infinito Slithers into Mumbai

On the crisp morning of October 1, Mumbai awoke to a rare kind of glamour. At the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, the city’s elite and press gathered at The Art House for an intimate preview of Bvlgari’s Serpenti Infinito Exhibition, marking the first time this global ode to the serpent icon has visited India.

Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bvlgari, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Global Brand Ambassador, joined Lucia Silvestri, Jewelry Executive Creative Director at the event, among a coterie of visionaries from Bvlgari and Nature Morte to unveil the exhibition. As the room shimmered with anticipation, everyone knew they were about to witness something rare and personal by the iconic brand.

Walking through the halls, it quickly became clear: this is not just jewellery; it is theatre, history, and philosophy wrapped in gold, gemstones, and narrative.

The serpent, the only animal to shed its skin every year, has long been a symbol of transformation, longevity, wisdom, and seduction. In Bvlgari’s Serpenti, it becomes more than a motif; it is a vessel of human aspiration, a bind between Italy and India, a creature both deadly and magnetic, drawing people together across continents and centuries.

Bvlgari’s Serpenti Infinito takes this symbolism to a new height, weaving together centuries of cultural dialogue between Italy and India. Cleopatra’s legendary allure, the streets of Rome, the opulence of Mughal courts, the celestial grace of apsaras-every coil, every scale, every gemstone tells a story that spans continents and eras. One glance at a five-coil Serpenti bracelet and you realise jewellery here is more than adornment- it is shapeshifting, a personal extension of identity, a dialogue between wearer and world.

Chapter I, Crafting Serpents in History, reminded us why the serpent is eternally fascinating: it sheds its skin, renews itself, embodies wisdom, seduction, and longevity. Heritage pieces, from the 1960s Tubogas bracelet-watches to multi-coloured statement designs, demonstrated a mastery of metal and gemstone that is both technical and poetic. 

The maison has perfected a technique known as TUBOGAS (to which it owes its name), involving two strips of metal wrapped around a flexible cord: a subtle homage to the serpent motif—using industrial pressurised gas in its crafting. Wearing Serpenti is to wear history itself. Cleopatra once walked Rome, and now we coil her legend around our wrists, a dream realised for the most discerning of collectors. Universal yet singular, planetary in resonance, it embodies perpetual duality: devotion and danger, beginnings and endings, power and tenderness. Every coil, every scale, every gemstone from Colombian emeralds to rubellites and mandarin garnets is a study in precision and poetry, a dialogue between softness and hardness, water and metal, myth and modernity.

Chapter II, A Mythic Presence, is where India takes the spotlight. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, radiating warmth, remarked, “This exhibition is a beautiful tribute to transformation, heritage and artistic expression, values that resonate deeply with both Bvlgari and the Indian spirit.” And the jewellery does not disappoint.

The Serpenti Maharani Secret necklace (worn later that evening by the Global Ambassador herself for the gala) commands attention with a 109.27-carat cabochon rubellite that pulses with regal energy, while the Divine Monsoon necklace: a cascade of 450 gold plates adorned with tanzanites, rubies, and rose-cut diamonds evokes the rhythm of India’s rains.

The Serpenti Apsaras necklace shifts and undulates like the celestial nymphs that inspired it, modular elements detaching as earrings, inviting you to become part of its story. Each piece feels alive, intimate, almost conspiratorial, whispering tales of queens, apsaras, and monsoon-soaked gardens (as if the jewellery itself had its own consciousness).

Here, the serpent is both guardian and provocateur, a reminder that jewellery is not merely ornamentation but an extension of self, an instrument of transformation and theatre.

Chapter III, Infinite Transformation, ventures boldly into the future. Refik Anadol’s Infinito: AI Data Sculpture immerses visitors in a mirrored, 360-degree serpentine universe, while contemporary Indian artists explore the nāga’s hybrid form across media, from Subodh Gupta’s bronze Infinite Sleeper to Harshit Agrawal’s VR installation, which casts viewers as serpents themselves. Here, tradition and technology converge, creating a dialogue that is as cerebral as it is sensual, as intimate as it is expansive.

By the time we reached Chapter III, the serpent was no longer just an icon — it was a living, breathing presence — an endless spiral of creation, protection, and metamorphosis.

To wear Bvlgari is to step into a lineage of desire, wisdom, and reinvention- a reminder that the serpent’s coil is both protective and provocative, universal yet intensely personal. From the streets of Rome to the heart of Mumbai, Bvlgari invites us to witness infinity, one scintillating coil at a time.

Serpenti Infinito runs from October 2 to 17, 2025, at The Art House, Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, BKC, Mumbai.

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