Style Edit: Inside Bulgari’s Aeterna collection, from twin-headed snakes of the Serpenti Sapphire Echo necklace to the Italian house’s most opulent creation

The image of a dramatically coiled snake has been synonymous with Bulgari for more than half of the revered Roman jeweller’s history. It was back in 1948 that Bulgari first introduced its beloved Serpenti collection, initially in the form of secret jewellery watches. Since then, it has evolved into a seemingly endless variety of necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, timepieces and more, depicting the reptile in styles ranging from the more lifelike to the whimsically abstract. Throughout, Serpenti has symbolised eternity – the ideal icon for a jeweller with a history that’s interwoven with that of the Eternal City – as well as the countless transformations that lie at the heart of every Bulgari collection.

Its latest avatar is a particularly head-turning example of the dramatic visual power of the serpent: a two-headed snake forms the chain of the spectacular Serpenti Sapphire Echo necklace, from which dangle two stunning stones of fascinating provenance. The body of the snake is formed of white gold, its scales dramatically picked out using diamonds and buff-top sapphires.

The other stars of the show are a pair of giant gems, both 37.34 carat pear-cut Sri Lankan sapphires, which have a history stretching back to the 1930s, and were sold back to the jeweller by their former owner and wearer, an Italian noblewoman. The theme of transformation is backed up by the piece’s versatility – the pendants can be detached and worn as earrings.

The Serpenti Sapphire Echo necklace is part of Bulgari’s new Aeterna collection, released this year in celebration of the maison’s 140th anniversary. It features more than 500 pieces, taking in everything from jewellery and watches, to bags and fragrances. They were all unveiled in suitably dramatic, historically resonant surroundings: the Italian capital’s magnificent Baths of Diocletian. And that’s not the only time the serpent rears its hissing head in the new collection: it also shows up on a couple of its other eye-catching pieces.

For a start, it forms the sinuously snaking, wave-patterned platinum body of the Serpenti Aeterna necklace, the collection’s most lavish creation and the most precious Bulgari has ever created. The necklace supports a series of stunning stones with a story: seven dramatic, D flawless, pear-cut diamond drops, together weighing a hefty 140 carats, all carved from the same, 200-carat original rough diamond.

As if that wasn’t enough, the snake itself shows off a further 698 baguette diamonds that together weigh a further 61.81 carats. So meticulous and painstaking was the job of creating the piece, it took Bulgari’s artisans over 2,800 hours of work.