The palace of Civiltà Italiana

The palace of Civiltà Italiana, also called of the Civiltà del Lavoro, for the Romans is better known as the Colosseum Squared. For obvious formal references, its 54 arches in travertine for facade, refer to the main monument in Rome. Eur, the district where the palace is located, is the new Rome, the expansion of the city towards the south, towards the sea. This Urbanization took place after the assignment to Rome of the 1942 Universal Exposition (Universal Exposition Rome) and an occasion for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Fascist regime. The Palace, a square-based parallelepiped, is entirely covered in travertine, monumental choice as the ideology of the regime wanted, it is no coincidence that the number of arches of the façades correspond to the number of letters that make up the name Benito (horizontally) Mussolini (vertically). On the ground floor there are 28 statues, each one is an allegory of the virtues of the Italian people. On the headings of the façades instead another tribute to the Italian civilization is the famous phrase: “A people of poets of artists of heroes / saints of thinkers of scientists / navigators of transmigrators”.

The building, after several years of use as a seat of federations, ministries and sporadic cultural initiatives, since July 2013 is rented to the FENDI group that, in respect of the museum destination, has provided for the realization on the ground floor of an area public exhibitions to “celebrate the creativity and craftsmanship of Italian genius”. The presence of this historic Italian brand reflects the desire of the Maison to celebrate its heritage and at the same time turn a look into the future! And the foresight of the Fendi group is also recognized in the choice of the new Fendi Cafè.

A year ago the inauguration of FENDI Caffè on the ground floor, a bar-restaurant with an industrial-chic design in which are dominant: the use of cement for the walls and the floor, alternating with parquet inserts; the mixed decor among vintage furniture and modules in recycled or new wood; the important presence of green walls. Strong piece inside the bistro, which we would like to mention are the works of the famous Japanese floral artist Azuma Makoto.

Azuma Makoto, one of the most coveted floral artists, contributes to the specialty of FENDI Caffè with its work made of plants and flowers that leads us to reflect on the essence of every single moment of life. The cut plants do not have a long life, that is why his art finds its beauty precisely in its own transience: “there is a beauty in blossoming and one in fading” using his own words. His rich compositions of various types of essences are an explosion of colors and shapes that seem to pay homage to the power of nature. Many are the experiments that the young Japanese artist does: like freezing the bouquets of Amazonian flowers, capturing them in blocks of ice to study the reaction of petals, leaves and stems; or like send the bouquets to the space attached to balloons, on which special cameras mounted on the decks, record the fluctuation of those magnificent colors in the monochromatic space. For Caffè, he has created hundreds of Flower Bottles in the numerous niches in the bar, a veritable floral poem.

www.fendi.com