Vicenza is quaintly medieval at its center, a dense jumble of old butter-toned dwellings along narrow byways that occasionally give way to some of the Renaissance’s most elegant architecture, but these structures mask an industrial might that has made this small city Italy’s most productive capital of jewelry.

“We were born to do this kind of thing,” said Roberto Coin, whose namesake company is one of Vicenza’s most successful brands worldwide. “We were born to create beauty, we were born to create new ideas. It’s in our DNA. It’s what we know how to do.” Nearly 10 percent of the 100,000-plus population is employed in the jewelry sector, and teenagers can replace high school with jewelry studies at the Scuola d’Arte e Mestieri.