RINASCENTE PALACE ON PIAZZA FIUME

PALAZZO DELLA RINASCENTE DI PIAZZA FIUME

Piazza Fiume/angolo Corso Italia

1957/61 Franco Albini (1905/77) and Franca Helg (1920/89)

It is the only architectural work of Franco Albini in Rome

“Even in this building, where the architectural language is enriched by the results of a more refined technological research, one can read the relationship between modernity and tradition that is a constant theme in the reflective work of Franco Albini. La Rinascente is built within the context of the city of Rome absorbing a series of suggestions of its environment and its colors, and referring to the historical tradition of the Renaissance palaces and of the nearby Aurelian Walls” (Annette Tosto)

HOTEL CAVALIERI HILTON

HOTEL CAVALIERI HILTON

Via Alberto Cadlolo 101

1961/63 Ugo Luccichenti (1898/1976), Emilio Pifferi (1907/?) and Alberto Ressa (1902/?), built as an exception to the municipal urban plan for the Società Generale Immobiliare (General Real Estate Company)

In the atrium spiral fountain by Franco Albini (1905/77) and Franca Helg (1920/89)

The very expensive restaurant "La Pergola" on the top floor, boasting the prestigious chef Heinz Beck, is considered one of the best restaurants in the whole of Italy

"The operation, at the center of a bitter controversy carried on by the weekly magazine L'Espresso and the National Institute of Urban Planning, started in 1954, when the company had entered into an agreement with Hilton Real Estate to build a hotel in Monte Mario in a designated area for public parks or extensive building, in which it was planned a wide panoramic square similar to the one on the Janiculum Hill. The question debated also in court concluded, however, with the construction of a huge hotel with eight floors above ground and three underground, the impact of which was 'in fact much worse than it could have been expected' (Italo Insolera)" (Gianluca Ficorilli - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Among the over one thousand works of art kept in the hotel:

Paintings

"Ulysses discovering Achilles among the daughters of Nicomedes" by G.B. Tiepolo (1696/1770)

"Judgement of Paris" by Giuseppe Bazzani (1690/1769)

"Landscape with Hermit" by Alessandro Magnasco (1667/1749)

"Flora" by Carlo Cignani (1628/1719) a pupil of Francesco Albani

"Arrival of the Bucintoro in St. Mark's Square" by Josef Heintz the Younger (about 1600/78)

"Country landscape with bridge" by Giuseppe Zaïs (1709/84) artist from Belluno who died in poverty, exponent of the Arcadian school

"Dollar Sign" by Andy Warhol (1928/87)

Sculptures

Bronze statue "Boy with Dog" by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)

Marble sculpture "The Kiss" by Antonio Tantardini (1829/79)

Remarkable collection of antique furniture and prestigious tapestries from Belgium and Beauvais, Art Nouveau clocks and vases