Villa Medici in Rome. first photos of the massive interior remodeling project

It is a villa whose name sounds. Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, the pearl of the Eternal City, is located as a cultural showcase in France on Mount Pincio. Appointed at the start of the epidemic at the head of this Renaissance-style palace surrounded by canopied pines, Sam Sturdze, its new director from the Rencontres d’Arles, embarks on a massive project of furnishing and interior reconstruction, the “Rearrangement of the Villa Medici. “. With the ambition to breathe new life into this exquisite stone vessel, combining use and artistic value as before, we live there among the creations. A challenge for an institution that welcomes the public in addition to its residents. In the first part of this promising project, Sam Sturdze linked Fendi with the revival of six banquet halls, where official dinners, symposiums, conferences, concerts are organized… And it’s a success.

Beautiful story

The ambiance takes on the atmosphere of the home, accentuated by muted monochrome tones that echo the softness of the materials. Natural elegance blended into the amazing sobriety of the place. In the 1960s and 1970s, the artist Baltasar Klosowski de Rolla, known as Baltus, led the Villa for fifteen years (1961-1977) and began the first major. update painting his famous patinas on the walls, sometimes polishing them on the bottom of a bottle, placing his magnificent sober floor lamps in the rooms and hunting down folk or even rustic furniture to furnish everything.

In the video, Linda Evangelista on the Fendi podium for the 25th anniversary of the Baguette bag

In the 2000s, designer and stage designer Richard Peduzzi, director of the institution from 2002 to 2008, intervened in turn, creating furniture and lighting, such as his geometric lights hanging from the ceiling or iron concrete lamps. In 2020, the furniture, which has become somewhat “different”, requires a makeover, while the Balthusian patinas are restored. Sam Sturdze, the conductor of this revival in the form of a past-present dialogue, then developed a project in three phases, spread over several years.

The villa is an embassy of French culture and, above all, a place of contemporary creativity

Sam Sturdze, director of Villa Medici

The first act now offers a successful mix of contemporary designs from Fendi Casa, historical furniture from the collections of the Mobilier National or the Académie de France in Rome, all under the direction of chief architect Pierre-Antoine Gatier. Historical statues. , in all stages of the current project. “This reconstruction, says the director of the Villa, is like telling the story of the place. To show that in its DNA there are successive modern interventions that have become historical; Balthus’ interventions are classified now, but in his time, when he intervenes, it is a real revolution, and with which I wanted, let’s continue to revalue them. earlier layers by Balthus, Peduzzi, and even 1833, when Horace Vernet created the neo-Moorish decorations of the Turkish Room. At the time, the orientalists’ room was a shock… The villa is an embassy of French culture and, above all, a place of modern creativity.”

At the heart of creativity

Fendi’s choice also expands the spaces. “It is not only one of the last great Roman fashion houses, but also a heritage company that has restored the Trevi Fountain, the Temple of Venus, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, which became the company’s headquarters, and it. is part of the French LVMH group, explains Sam Sturdze. And then, above all, I wanted their artistic directors, because with Kim Jones (couture and ready-to-wear women) and Silvia Venturini Fendi (accessories and men), we have the synthesis of what we want to bring forward; very strong. local roots – Silvia has been the epitome of Rome for three generations, while also being a creator without borders. And with Kim Jones, we are at the heart of European creativity. he shakes the codes with mad talent. He is a descendant of Alexander McQueen. He is more of a creator than a fashion designer. When he came here, his eye immediately caught the interest of the historical dialogue, and the result is neither like the Fendi Casa showroom nor a Roman palace, noble but decorated with hangings and gilding. Here Balthus paved the way for us and cleaned all the walls, which play wonderfully with the light. Perspectives between rooms are exposed. We begin to look at places as we have never looked at them before. And for the first time, we’re getting a very special look at the interior, in addition to the exterior and scenery.

Take a look at the upgraded course. There follow one another, from the Petit to the Grand Salon, passing by the residents’ salon, Fendi Casa furniture: sofa, sofa, armchairs, three rugs designed by the duo Kim and Silvia, with gradations inspired by the colors of the walls. In-room antiques from the Villa’s collection, such as an ornate harpsichord purchased by Balthus, several original pieces, such as a table by French designer No Duchaufour-Laurance, whose travertine tops recall the flagstones of the Via Appia, and a series of tapestries. From the Mobilier National collections, some of which are contemporary and signed by Sheila Hicks, Louise Bourgeois and Eduardo Chillida.

Reorganization with several chapters

Those installed in the Grand Salon are double height and 150 m^2: – which regularly organizes concerts, hides 60 m^2: Acoustic panels designed by Devialet, the aesthetic of the pintos reminiscent of Medici red selected by the master architect, guaranteeing a revolutionary room sound system. “Fendi financed everything, resumes Sam Sturdze. We weren’t so much interested in his money, which could have come from elsewhere, as in their artistic directors for their perspective and experience. I need to have the best at the table, here is Fendi, Mobilier National and, on a smaller scale, Devialet.” In April, the second part of this reconstruction will open one of the five historic rooms of the famous designer architect; we are talking about India Mahdavi. And within a year, the start of the redesign of the first of the nine rooms of the so-called “bridge”, the result of the sponsorship of the Betancourt Schueller Foundation, where the architect designer and the craftsmen will work together. Two or three years of progressive openings are planned, including a new creation that is being reviewed with Fendi. Like a renewed burst of brilliance.