As far as luxury jewelry brands go, the Damiani name equals prestige, especially with 18 Diamond International Awards to its credit. Internationally popular, Damiani holds single-brand boutiques in fashionable cities like Milan, Rome, Venice, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul.

Like its jewelry, Damiani.it is expertly designed and crafted -- a sophisticated, virtual showroom. At first click, the user is faced with a few initial choices -- English or Italian? Flash or HTML? Choosing Flash allows for tasteful animated interludes announcing each site section. The center of the page acts as a product and information showcase containing immaculate images of the jewelry, with top and bottom navigation bars hosting topical links for easy browsing.

The contents of the site follow the same prototype of display and functionality as the Jewelry section. A click on the Watches section launches a gorgeous Flash teaser, complete with a faint tick-tock sound.

The Art of Jewel launches a superior flash introduction where loose diamonds and a map spill across the screen. Diamond icons appear on the bottom and when clicked, each launches another flash intro to a subsection. Users can click these icons to obtain detailed information on diamond mines, cut, quality control, design and settings. Diamond Mines displays a map locating the treasures’ origin. Quality Control explains the 4Cs (cut, color, clarity and carat). The Book section offers a synopsis of the Damiani philosophy, complete with prose and quotes describing how jewelry and the concept of luxury are the one and the same, how jewelry is created, its social significance and its magical properties.