There are handbags you buy because they go with everything. And then there are handbags that become shorthand for a certain kind of woman – one who collects memories as carefully as she collects clothes. The kind of woman who knows the difference between fashion and style, and who understands that true luxury has very little to do with logos and everything to do with feeling.
For the past decade, the Weekend Max Mara Pasticcino bag has occupied that rare space. Rounded and softly structured, with its signature kiss-lock clasp and slightly mischievous personality, the Pasticcino has always felt less like a handbag and more like a chic companion. And now, as the bag celebrates its 10th anniversary, Weekend Max Mara is taking it home – back to Italy – for the fifth chapter of its beloved World Tour project, aptly titled Italian Roots. If previous editions explored artisanal traditions around the globe, this one feels infi nitely more personal. Florence – with its faded palazzos, marble façades and intoxicating relationship with beauty – becomes both backdrop and muse.
For Nicola Gerber Maramotti – family member, brand ambassador and custodian of the effortless Italian sensibility that Weekend Max Mara does so well – this homecoming chapter carries unusual emotional weight. “This chapter feels very emotional because it celebrates the origins of the Pasticcino bag and, more broadly, the values that define Italian creativity and craftsmanship,” she tells marie claire.
“After exploring different cultures and artisanal traditions around the world, returning to Italy feels both intimate and symbolic.” There is, perhaps, no better time for a return to roots. In an era when luxury increasingly risks becoming algorithmic – trend-driven, overexposed and designed for speed rather than permanence – the idea of slowing down to celebrate human hands is what makes the Pasticcino bag so enduring. “I think it resonates because it has personality,” says Gerber Maramotti. “The Pasticcino bag has always had a sense of joy and spontaneity, while still feeling elegant and refined.”
And nowhere is that feeling more palpable than in Florence itself. This year’s collection, comprising six numbered, limited-edition bags, draws inspiration from Tuscan Renaissance architecture and interiors: frescoed ceilings, geometric marble floors, ornate facades and painterly palettes rendered in velvet, brocade and damask. The fabrics come courtesy of Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio, the extraordinary Florentine mill founded in 1906 that still uses antique jacquard looms to produce materials based on techniques dating back to the Renaissance.
“I think it’s essential,” Gerber Maramotti says of preserving artisanal knowledge. “Technology can support creativity, but it cannot replace the emotional depth and cultural value of true craftsmanship.” She pauses on the idea of heritage as continuity. “Luxury today is not only about the final product, it’s also about the story, the process and the people behind it. Preserving these artisanal traditions means preserving a sense of identity and humanity within fashion.” It’s a sentiment that feels increasingly resonant in 2026, as consumers become more selective – less interested in conspicuous consumption and more drawn to pieces with provenance and permanence. Today’s luxury customer wants to know who made something, where it came from and why it deserves to exist in their life. And in the case of the Pasticcino bag, every detail carries intention.
The collection’s marble clasps – arguably its most striking feature – are created by Budri, the Italian “haute couture marble atelier” founded in 1961 and celebrated for transforming marble into something unexpectedly fluid and sensual. Budri speaks about marble almost as if it were fabric: soft, emotional, expressive. “The lightness of weight is the oxymoron that reflects Budri’s philosophy,” the atelier explains. “Enhancing marble … with a light, dynamic effect and treating it like a fabric means abandoning all preconceptions.”
It’s exactly this tension – between hardness and softness, polish and playfulness – that gives the collection its magic. The marbles themselves are deeply Italian: cerulean-streaked Bardiglio Carrara, veined Calacatta Belgia, deep green Issogne and rose-toned Fiori di Pesco Carnico. Naturally, Gerber Maramotti has her favourites. “The green Verde Issogne and pink Fiori di Pesco Carnico marbles are my favourites. They remind me of my walks in the morning light in the centre of Florence. The magic of Santa Maria del Fiore’s façade.”
It is such an exquisitely Italian answer: beauty remembered through colour, architecture and light. At the end of our conversation, Gerber Maramotti reflects on what she hopes future generations will understand about projects like the Pasticcino World Tour. “I hope they understand that the project was really about celebrating human creativity and craftsmanship in a meaningful way,” she says. “Beyond fashion, it was about preserving traditions, techniques and cultural identities that risk disappearing in an increasingly fast-paced world.”
And therein lies the true genius of the Pasticcino bag. In a world increasingly obsessed with speed, it reminds us that the most beautiful things still take time.
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