La Rinascente, Via del Tritone
Right in the center of town, steps away from the Trevi Fountain and Piazza di Spagna, Rinascente opened its second flagship store on October 12, 2017. That’s nearly 150 years after the inauguration of its first one in Milan and exactly 100 years after the Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio coined the name on commission of its new owner, Senatore Borletti in 1917.
The new Rinascente department store is unique in its class, superbly presenting the best of the worlds of fashion, beauty care, design, and gourmet food offerings from Made in Italy’s most prestigious brands and their international counterparts on eight floors. The building’s remake was entrusted to famous architects and designers, some of whom had already lent a hand in restructuring the Milan flagship store and others in the Collection.
Rome’s new Rinascente department store provides a magnificent example of how the past and present engage in dialogue and together create something new: a building that perfectly balances ancient and modern, as is evident right from the façade. Vincent Van Duysen’s streamlined design highlights the 96 windows and the 7 show windows framed in burnished bronze. The repetition of architectural elements creates a sense of harmonious unity that defines the concept of contemporary splendor.
Basement
The Basement offers the department store design more than one element of uniqueness: first and foremost of which is the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct archeological site. Architects Claudio Silvestrin and Giuliana Salmaso laid out the floor’s areas with the precise aesthetic intent of taking visitors on a trip through time, going through the modern lines of the Design Supermarket, the shops around the perimeter, the Tax Free Lounge and the Clients Of ce, and this miracle of hydraulic engineering that continues to enchant with its power and beauty after two thousand years.
Built by the ancient Romans, the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct is still working today twenty centuries later, providing water to nearly all the grandiose fountains in the center of Rome including the Trevi Fountain.
Defining the entire display on the lower level of the building whose careful renovation lets it be observed directly in all its splendor, this area, called Exhibition Area, is the second element of absolute distinction that will frame a generous schedule of cultural events. The calming, rarified atmosphere is conducive to a welcome pause for contemplation and marvel, perhaps seated at a table in Bar Caffetteria di Feudi di San Gregorio with a view of Ancient Rome’s Aqua Virgo Aqueduct.
Ground Floor
The architecture in Rome clearly inspired Vincent van Duysen – who also designed the Ground Floor and the 1st Floor - in establishing the order of the elements, their composition, and the harmonic rhythm that ensues. The alternation of light and shadow, full and empty spaces emanates balanced beauty where the most prestigious names in jewelry, luxury accessories and sunglasses find the ideal setting for a presentation of timeless classics alongside must-have novelties, rewarding shoppers with a perfectly satisfying experience.
First Floor
The same tone of contemporary elegance extends to the 1st Floor, and proves perfect in the staging of the spectacle of beauty assigned to the best brands of cosmetics, latest-generation beauty care products, the most exclusive fragrances, and the make-up favored by the stars.
One part of the floor is dedicated entirely to lingerie by the names that make women dream in an atmosphere of ethereal seduction.
Second Floor
Universal Design Studio drew its inspiration for the Men’s fashion oor from 20th century Rome’s metropolitan architecture and an abstraction of the city square.
The Shoe Area hosted in the “Palazzetto” abounds instead in elegant details taken from the grandiose halls of Rome’s princely palaces.
The design of the product display elements and furnishing pays homage to the Architect Franco Albini, who designed the Rinascente store first opened in Rome’s Piazza Fiume in 1960.
Third Floor
The 3rd floor hosts The Lofts and Rooms Project signed by Paolo Lucchetta’s RetailDesign. The layout makes the distinctiveness of each stylist’s collections perfectly perceivable. Nearly half the floor is divided into Rooms, or shops in shop around the perimeter hosting the most prestigious names in men’s formalwear. The floor’s central area is set up as Lofts dedicated to smart casual with fewer partitions and more particulars that graphically transmit the idea of really being in Rome. Sneakers, the real icons of male fashion and style in recent years, are showcased in decor with unexpected particulars.
With its more intimate and reserved interiors, the “Palazzetto” provides the perfect location for the underwear and beachwear collections.
Fourth Floor
The entire floor dedicated to high-end women’s fashion designers is enveloped in the most absolute elegance. Designer India Mahdavi makes it her tribute to Rome, for her the center of the world, the living memory of all that remains despite the cruel passage of time. This approach comes clear in the perfect harmony of the divisions of space. The interiors of the “Palazzetto” displaying luxury footwear are given the form of a veritable library of textures, while the rest of the floor vaunts a decidedly more modern and minimal appeal.
The world’s finest brands in feminine luxury are proposed in the ideal setting for the exaltation of their status as objects of desire.
Fifth Floor
The 5th floor is an expression of the creativity of CLS Architetti. The horizontal surfaces reinforcing the idea of “container” evoke the architecture of ancient Rome, and most clearly evident in the clean-cut lines and coffered ceiling that recalls the Pantheon. The metal structure of the product display elements defines the interiors of the shops in shop, giving them a more contemporary look that extends to the perfect selection of Italian and international brands of more casual, everyday fashion graced by the right accessories.
Sixth and Seventh Floor
At the Food Hall designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands studio in London, the ceiling plays a key role and provides a strong sense of volume, while the sculpture gives the restaurants, shops, and terraces a harmonious sense of the whole.
