Giancarlo Venturini was an Italian knitwear designer active in the 1950s-1970s. Venturini was born in Lucca, and studied engineering at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa (, UniPi) is a public university, public research university in Pisa, Italy. Founded in 1343, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced S ...

. After developing an interest in fashion, he returned to Lucca where his sister Anna had established a knitting mill, and joined forces with her to develop clothing designs. In 1957, he came up with the idea of the "Portofino" collection of ensembles where unusual sweaters were matched with coordinating slacks, which was recognised as one of "the most significant innovations in knit

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical spor ...

". In 1960, Venturini launched a new company called "Maria" which specialised in hand-knitting rather than machine, and created garments showing unusually coloured

intarsia Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The practice dates from before the seventh century AD. The technique inserts sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone, or mother-of-pearl) within the solid wood ...

combined with embroidery. His designs were well received, and he was invited to present his work at the Pitti Palace in Florence in 1965 and 1967. Venturini was selected to receive the

Neiman Marcus Fashion Award The Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was a yearly award created in 1938 by Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus. Unlike the Coty Award, it was not limited to American-based fashion designers. Recipients of th ...

in 1967. His award was in recognition of how he had "revolutionized" knitted sportswear, according to the

Schenectady Gazette ''The Daily Gazette,'' from 1902 to 1989 ''Schenectady Gazette,'' is an independent, family-owned daily newspaper published in Schenectady, New York, Schenectady, New York state, New York. ''The Daily Gazette'' also owns and operates ''The Amste ...

. 1967 marked the first time that the award had been presented exclusively to Italian recipients, with the fellow winners being Valentino, Fiamma Ferragamo, Lydia de Roma and the fashion craftspeople of the entire city of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, whose award was accepted by

Emilio Pucci Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento (; 20 November 1914 – 29 November 1992) was an Italian Marquess, aristocrat, fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company Pucci designed geometric prints in many colors. Early life Pucci wa ...

. Venturini retired from fashion design in 1984, became a restorer of buildings in Italy, and as of 2022, is an artist and picture-frame-builder in Castelvecchio.

References

Living people Italian fashion designers Knitwear manufacturers People from Lucca Italian artists Date of birth missing (living people) University of Pisa alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{fashion-designer-stub