The Human Dimension of Luxury: Eugenia Di Girolamo Leads Pininfarina of America
Meet Eugenia Di Girolamo, an architect and urban planner appointed General Manager of Pininfarina of America to guide the firm’s next chapter across the hemisphere. Founded in Turin in 1930, Pininfarina is a storied Italian design house celebrated for sculpting automotive icons like the Ferrari Testarossa before translating its vision into luxury architecture and industrial design. Her leadership is defined by a civic perspective shaped in public service, including senior tenures with the New York City Department of City Planning and as Chief Urban Designer for Denver. Rather than viewing design through isolated objects, she evaluates projects by how they connect with the wider urban fabric, ensuring that form directly enriches everyday human experience.
That holistic approach is already leaving an imprint on South Florida. Through residential landmarks like Fort Lauderdale's Andare Residences and Collection Sei in South Florida, Pininfarina of America pairs Italian design heritage with regional context. Working closely with creative leaders Paolo Trevisan and Samuele Sordi, Di Girolamo is expanding this cross-disciplinary vision beyond conventional architecture, exploring compact living with Airstream and advancing resilient solutions for coastal environments.
Raised along the Mediterranean, Di Girolamo developed an early affinity for waterfront cities and the spontaneous encounters fostered by historic porticoes during her student years in Bologna. Outside of professional commitments, she favors open-ended exploration over rigid itineraries. She is just as likely to spend an afternoon at a sidewalk café observing the street's natural rhythm as she is to scout independent art spaces in Miami's Little River.
In this exclusive interview with Miami Living, Di Girolamo discusses what it takes to remain nimble in leadership and why genuine luxury is defined by emotional resonance rather than square footage. She also reflects on the civic duty of architecture, detailing how Pininfarina continues to craft spaces that honor both their Italian lineage and the communities they call home.
Miami Living (ML): Was there an early experience that inspired you to become an architect?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: Traveling with my parents as a child was probably my earliest introduction to architecture and design. I had the opportunity to visit different cities across Europe and experience how people lived in different places. I was fascinated by how much everyday life could change from one city to another, or even from one neighborhood to the next.
I began noticing how streets, public spaces, buildings and the relationships between them shaped the way people interacted, moved around and experienced their communities. Every place had its own character, rhythm and way of life, and I became curious about what made those differences possible.
Looking back, I think those experiences sparked my interest in architecture and eventually urban design. What fascinated me wasn't just the buildings themselves, but the relationship between the built environment and the people who inhabit it and how design can influence the way we live and connect with one another.
Royale Design by Pininfarina, Asunción, Paraguay
ML: What did your work in public service and urban planning teach you about design that you bring to Pininfarina?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: Working in public service profoundly shaped my understanding of the responsibility that comes with design.
At the New York City Department of City Planning, and later as Chief Urban Designer for the City and County of Denver, I worked on projects where design decisions had implications far beyond the boundaries of an individual site. They affected public spaces, mobility, housing and the everyday lives of people with very different needs.
That experience taught me to approach design at multiple scales and to consider not only the quality of the physical environment, but also its social, cultural and economic impact.
It’s a perspective I bring to Pininfarina. Whether we’re designing a residence, a product or a public space, I believe the most meaningful work begins with understanding people and context. Beauty and innovation are essential, but their value ultimately lies in the experiences they enable and the positive impact they can create.
Arkhaus' Villa 50
ML: What attracted you to Pininfarina, and what are your priorities for your first year leading the Americas?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: What attracted me to Pininfarina is its extraordinary ability to bring together disciplines that are often treated separately: design, engineering, technology, craftsmanship and human experience.
Pininfarina has spent nearly a century shaping some of the most iconic expressions of automotive design, but what I find particularly exciting is how that design intelligence translates into architecture, product design, mobility and nautical design. There is an incredible opportunity to build on this heritage while exploring what Pininfarina can become in its next century.
My priority is to strengthen our presence across the Americas, particularly in the United States, by developing deeper relationships with clients, expanding our work across disciplines and bringing greater visibility to the breadth of our capabilities.
I’m also interested in making New York a stronger center for design dialogue, partnerships and innovation, complementing our established presence in Miami.
Ultimately, I want Pininfarina to be recognized not only for its remarkable design legacy, but for its ability to help shape the future of the field.
ML: How will your urban design background complement the work of Paolo Trevisan and Samuele Sordi as you shape Pininfarina’s next chapter?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: Paolo and Samuele bring exceptional design expertise and a deep understanding of Pininfarina’s creative culture. I see my contribution as complementary to theirs.
My background has taught me to look at design through a broader lens: the relationship between buildings and cities, between products and the way people live, and between individual projects and the larger economic, cultural and environmental forces shaping our future.
That perspective is especially valuable in an organization like Pininfarina, where disciplines have enormous potential to inform one another.
I’m interested in creating even more opportunities for collaboration across our architecture and product design teams, connecting their work with our clients in the mobility and technology spaces and the evolving needs of who we design for.
My role is to create the conditions in which their ideas can have an even greater reach and impact.
ML: You have taught at Cornell and YACademy. What have younger designers taught you about your own approach to design?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: Teaching has always been an opportunity for me to learn as much as to share what I know.
Younger designers often approach problems with an openness that is both refreshing and challenging. They’re less constrained by established conventions and more willing to question why things are done a certain way.
They also bring a heightened awareness of issues such as environmental responsibility, social equity and the role of technology in shaping our lives.
What I’ve learned from them is the importance of remaining curious and being willing to challenge your own assumptions.
As we become more experienced, we develop judgment and expertise, but we can also become attached to familiar ways of thinking. Working with students reminds me that creativity requires a certain willingness to be uncomfortable, to experiment and to accept that the most interesting answers aren’t always the most obvious ones. We must stay nimble (my favorite word), create a new future that doesn’t exist today.
I think that’s an important lesson in design and in leadership.
Collection Sei Design by Pininfarina, South Florida, USA
ML: With projects such as Andare Residences and Collection Sei in South Florida, how can luxury residential design better respond to the way people live today?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: I think the definition of luxury is evolving. It’s becoming less about excess and more about quality of life, personal experience and the emotional connection we develop with the spaces we inhabit.
People don’t simply buy square footage; they are looking for a feeling, an experience and a place that reflects who they are.
For me, great residential design begins with the fundamentals: proportion, natural light, comfort and a thoughtful relationship with the surrounding environment. But it’s also about what I like to think of as the choreography of everyday life: the experience of arriving home, the way spaces unfold, the transition between indoors and outdoors, or how a shared amenity becomes a natural extension of one’s home.
Projects such as Andare Residences and Collection Sei offer different expressions of this philosophy, bringing architecture, interiors, technology and lifestyle together into a coherent experience.
At Pininfarina, we approach this through three principles: Beauty, Technology and Impact. Beauty creates an emotional connection, technology helps improve performance and comfort, and impact ensures that what we design creates enduring value.
True luxury, ultimately, is about how a place makes you feel and how effortlessly it supports your life.
Andare Residences Design by Pininfarina, Fort Lauderdale, USA
ML: How should luxury developments contribute to the neighborhoods and communities around them?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: I believe every building has a responsibility to the city, regardless of its price point or who occupies it.
A luxury development may be privately owned, but it is also part of a shared urban environment. The way it meets the street, contributes to the public realm, responds to its surroundings and supports the neighborhood can have an impact far beyond its residents.
Having worked in urban planning, I’m particularly interested in what happens at the ground level of a building. Does it create an inviting pedestrian experience? Does it contribute to the character of the street? Does it respond to the climate and landscape? Does it add something meaningful to the life of the neighborhood?
Luxury and civic responsibility should not be seen as competing ideas.
In fact, I think the most successful developments are those that create exceptional private experiences while also contributing positively to the places around them.
Architecture has the capacity to create both individual value and collective value. We should aspire to do both.
Manta Design by Pininfarina, Alagoas, Brazil
ML: How do you preserve Pininfarina’s Italian design identity while reflecting the character of places as diverse as South Florida, Brazil’s Coral Coast, and Belém?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: I don’t see our Italian identity and the local character of a place as opposing forces. They are complementary.
Pininfarina’s Italian heritage isn’t about reproducing a particular architectural style. It’s rooted in a design philosophy: elegance, proportion, innovation, precision and an appreciation for beauty that transcends passing trends.
Those principles provide a consistent foundation, but every project must respond to its own environment.
In South Florida, the relationship between architecture, water, light and outdoor living is fundamental. Along Brazil’s Coral Coast, the extraordinary natural landscape calls for a particularly sensitive approach to the relationship between the built and natural environments. In Belém, the region’s cultural identity, tropical climate and connection to the Amazon offer an entirely different source of inspiration.
Our process begins with understanding these conditions and not only climate, materials and landscape, but also how people live and what makes a place distinctive.
We want our projects to tell a story that belongs to their location.
The objective isn’t to bring Italian architecture to different parts of the world. It’s to create architecture that feels genuinely rooted in its place while remaining unmistakably Pininfarina.
Argos Nautic's F330 Design by Pininfarina
AC Future's AI Transformer Home
ML: What does the Airstream collaboration reveal about the future of travel and small-space living?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: Our collaboration with Airstream is still at an early stage, so there are details we’re not yet ready to share. But I think it speaks to a fascinating intersection between mobility, design and human experience.
At Pininfarina, we’re accustomed to designing environments where space is precious: from automobiles and yachts to aviation interiors. These projects require enormous discipline. Every element must have a purpose, and comfort depends as much on intelligent planning and thoughtful details as it does on the amount of space available.
I think we’re increasingly questioning the assumption that a better experience necessarily requires more space or more possessions.
The future of travel and compact living may be about designing environments that offer greater flexibility, freedom and connection to the world around us without sacrificing comfort or beauty.
There’s something very compelling about the idea that design can give us more freedom with less.
Andare Residences Deck, Fort Lauderdale, USA
ML: In coastal communities like South Florida, what should never be compromised when designing for sustainability and long-term resilience?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: The safety, well-being and long-term quality of life of the people who inhabit a place should never be compromised.
In coastal environments, resilience cannot be an afterthought or simply a technical requirement addressed toward the end of the design process. It has to inform the earliest decisions, from site planning and building orientation to material selection, environmental systems and the relationship between architecture and the landscape.
We need to design for the realities of rising temperatures, flooding, severe weather and the long-term durability of buildings.
But I also believe resilience should be understood more broadly. A truly sustainable building must remain functional, adaptable and desirable over time. It should respond to changing needs and continue to contribute positively to its surroundings.
At Pininfarina, performance and beauty have always been closely connected. I think the next frontier is bringing that same philosophy to buildings that are not only beautiful today, but capable of performing responsibly for generations.
ML: You emphasize the emotional connection people form with design. Is there a place or object that has stayed with you, and why?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: One place that comes to mind is Bologna, where I studied architecture and engineering. What has always stayed with me is the way the city’s streets, porticoes and public spaces create such a rich relationship between architecture and everyday life.
There is a generosity to those spaces. They make room for encounters, conversations and the ordinary rituals that give a city its identity. It’s not structured or prescribed; it just happens organically.
What I find remarkable is that the emotional connection isn’t necessarily created by a single monumental building. It comes from the experience of moving through the city, the way light changes throughout the day, the sense of enclosure and openness, and the presence of other people. The buildings are the backdrop for the life that happens in the in between.
That has always influenced my understanding of design. The places we remember most vividly are often those where we felt something meaningful, even if we can’t immediately explain why. It’s about the memories we create with others or in the absence of others and the emotional connection to a place.
I think the same is true of a beautifully designed object. Its value goes beyond its appearance or function; it becomes part of our personal experience and memory.
Miami Beach Bus Shelter
ML: When you explore a city outside of work, what catches your eye? Is there somewhere in Miami you would like to get to know better?
Eugenia Di Girolamo: I love exploring cities without a particular agenda, allowing myself to get lost and discover what makes each neighborhood unique. Art is a big part of that for me. In New York, I love wandering through galleries, from the Lower East Side to Chelsea and uptown. And whenever I'm in Miami for Art Basel, I try to discover new artists and galleries beyond the fairs.
But I'm equally fascinated by everyday life. It may be a very Italian thing, but I can happily spend an afternoon sitting at a café, watching people go by.
I'm also naturally drawn to water. I grew up by the Mediterranean Sea, and I've always felt a strong connection to coastal cities like Miami, Rio de Janeiro and New York. There's something fascinating about the boundary where the city meets the water, and the different ways people experience it.
In Miami, I'd love to explore Little River more deeply. I'm intrigued by its growing community of independent galleries, artists and creative spaces, but also by the neighborhood's evolving identity. I'm interested in discovering the places where art, culture and everyday life intersect, because that's often where you find the true character of a city.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Pininfarina of America
501 Brickell Key Drive, Suite 200
Miami, FL 33131
+1 305 424 1653