City News
The Fendi fashion house has received quite a bit of publicity in Rome over the past few months. At the end of last year, it moved its headquarters to the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (Quadrato della Concordia; fendi.com) in the EUR district to mark the company's 90th anniversary.
The famous building was originally commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to serve a symbol of fascism for the 1942 World Fair, but this event was ultimately cancelled due to the outbreak of the Second World War. Having stood empty for extensive periods since its completion in 1943, the refurbished edifice is now the workplace of more than 400 Fendi employees. Presently the ground floor of the palazzo is hosting an exhibition until March 7 on the history of the EUR district. Named A New Rome. The Eur and the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the exhibition features film fragments by such famous Italian directors as Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci.
Just recently the fashion house also opened its first boutique hotel, Fendi Private Suites (Via Fontanella Borghese 48; fendiprivatesuites.com), which is located in the company's former headquarters, the Palazzo Fendi. At one time, the legendary 17th-century building was the residence of one of Rome's oldest aristocratic families, the Boncompagni-Ludovisis, from which Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585) also came. All seven of the hotel's apartments are located on the third floor and each of them represents the epitome of luxury in terms of both design and comfort.
Since the month of December, the Palazzo Fendi has also been home to the world's largest Fendi store, where works of art from the fashion house's collection grace the interior along with clothing and accessories. This month, the Zuma Japanese restaurant will also open its doors on the building's top floor. The designer of the interior for both the new Fendi headquarters and the hotel was Italian architect Marco Costanzi.
Meanwhile, all art lovers' roads in Rome are leading to the Museo Dell'Ara Pacis (located at the Lungotevere in Augusta), where a retrospective of works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) can be seen until May 8. The 170+ oeuvres on display fully reveal the versatility of the sensual bohemian painter and illustrator, whose artistic career lasted less than 20 years and ended with his premature death at the age of 36.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was one of the most prominent portraitists in Paris during the Belle Époque. His paintings and drawings reflected life in the Montmartre district of the French capital and were well-received by his contemporaries, who eagerly awaited each new work in the same manner that they might look forward to the latest newspaper edition. The artist frequented theatre houses, circuses, brothels and dance halls, where Parisians from all walks of life came to vent their passions. The wide scope of photographs and film clips from that era add a special aura to the museum exhibition.
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