Luxury fashion company Fendi on Thursday
unveiled its new headquarters in a long-abandoned, now renovated
architectural
folly created by the WWII fascist leader Benito Mussolini in Rome.
The building, known by Italians as the Square Colosseum but officially
entitled the Palace of Italian Civilsation, was built by Mussolini as the
centrepiece of the EUR district he created in the south of Rome for a 1942
Universal Exhibition that never took place because of World War II.
Fendi has spent millions renovating the building, a perfect cube
featuring
no fewer than 260 symmetrical arches spread across eight different levels.
The design of what was initially intended to be an exhibition space is
supposed to recall the form of a Roman amphitheatre in sleek modernist
lines.
Apart from one brief spell when it was partially occupied by an offshoot
of
a government ministry, the building has been abandoned since WWII — largely
due to its fascist connections.
Fendi CEO Pietro Baccari played down the building’s associations with
Mussolini’s authoritarian regime. “No fascist lived or worked here,” he told
AFP. “Romans love the building particularly because it resembles the
Colosseum
and because it is a masterpiece of modernist architecture.”
Fendi is reportedly paying 240,000 euros a month under a 15-year-lease
for
the building in which it has installed its offices, fur workshop and more
than
400 staff.
For the first time, visitors to Rome will be able to tour part of the
building as the ground floor is to become a permanent exhibition space with
free entrance, starting with a history of the building and the surrounding
district. (AFP)