A sparkling combination on show from Bulgari

Chinese actress Hsu Chi attends the ongoing Cinecitta and Beyond－Bulgari Jeweler to the Stars exhibition in the Beijing SKP mall.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"A movie is an important way to have people dream. Luxury is very much about emotions and dreams. To see beautiful divas perform with Bulgari jewelry is a way to nurture this kind of dream," Lucia Boscaini, Bulgari's brand and heritage curator, tells China Daily.

The exhibition highlights include a silver cigarette box, which Elizabeth Taylor and her then lover Richard Burton commissioned as a wedding present for Joseph Mankiewicz, the director of Cleopatra, where the couple met.

It also displays a "David di Donatello" plaque in gold from 1956, when Bulgari began making trophies for the Italian film awards.

Founded in Rome in 1937, Cinecitta was once the most famous movie production studio in Italy. It was home to movies like Roman Holidays and La Dolce Vita in the 1950s and 1960s. The age of Dolce Vita, which celebrates self-indulgence and extravagance, also became a source of inspiration for Bulgari jewelry.

Cinecitta brought to Rome a lot of movie stars, many of whom frequented the Bulgari shop in Via Condotti and became personal friends with the designer.