TAORMINA, Italy – Photo ops were numerous on Monday at sunset, Mount Etna in the background, the shimmering Ionian See below, the gardens of Belmond’s Grand Hotel Timeo filled with lemon and orange trees and brimming with bougainvilleas. However, it was the celebrity quota that had guests attending the Bulgari high jewelry event rushing to their iPhones to capture the likes of Viola Davis, Blackpink’s Lisa, Liu Yifei and Priyanka Chopra Jonas arriving at the location for the cocktail and dinner held by the Italian brand.

As she posed on the balcony of the hotel, asked about being photographed on the red carpet and on social occasions, Davis, flanked by her husband Julius Tennon, admitted that at first she felt a bit uneasy. “It wasn’t my style growing up, my mom never liked to be photographed, I never thought I was that girl, I never thought it had anything to do with my work. But over time I’m enjoying it more because it gives me the chance to celebrate me, all the things inside of me that make me feel joyful and beautiful and special and extraordinary and I have to say it’s become easier when I think of it that way.”

What does she think about when she is being lensed? “I think of two things, I think of little Viola and I also remember what a friend of mine said years ago – ‘all you have to do is look at the camera and smile’ –  and there was something about that, that released something in me that was quite beautiful,” said the Academy Award winner, who was wearing a dramatic black Mugler dress – and indeed smiling agreeably.

Bulgari brand ambassador Yifei, wearing a richly embroidered Elie Saab gown, was struck by the context, saying it was her first time in Taormina. “It’s just so unbelievably beautiful,” she said. Looking at the ancient Greek theater where the Bulgari show was to be held later in the evening, she said “as an actress I feel the connection and I am looking forward to the event in this environment I love.”

Posing for the WWD cover, she said that she aims for the best shot “two ways, either trying to be a model, or more as an actor, going within myself freestyle, and playing with it.”

After a speech by chief executive officer Jean-Christophe Babin, guests took their seats at the dinner tables, set with Caltagirone ceramics, neo-antique statues, and rich compositions of local fruit to emphasize the colorful boldness of the Polychroma high jewelry collection.

The emotional peak of the event took place at the theater, where Bulgari staged a performance in three acts, inspired by Greek tragedies and choreographed by multi-award-winning Sir Wayne McGregor, resident choreographer of The Royal Ballet.

Models then walked on stage, framed by imposing arches and white veils blowing in the evening breeze, wearing key Polychroma jewels and bespoke dresses by rising Italian fashion talent Francesco Murano, a finalist of the 2025 LVMH Prize, who debuted his first runway show during Milan Fashion Week in February.

Fondazione Bulgari, paying tribute to the cultural richness of Sicily, has committed to supporting the restoration of a fresco of profound symbolic value at Palazzo Corvaja, and a new collaboration with the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo.