Rome, September 29, 2022 – A private institutional event was held this morning to present the redevelopment project for the Galleria Alberto Sordi, Rome's historic “drawing room”, which provided the venue for the presentation.
Among those attending were Monica Lucarelli, Rome Municipal Councilor for Trade and Equal Opportunities, who took part in the presentation organized by Prelios SGR, one of Italy's largest asset managers and a company in the Prelios Group, which manages the real estate assets of the Megas Fund (an Italian real estate alternative investment fund for professional investors, whose sole shareholder is Fondazione Enasarco), whose core assets include the Galleria Alberto Sordi.
The redevelopment project has been assigned to L22 Retail, a business unit in the Lombardini22 Group specialized in projects to create and maintain the value of retail premises, which has designed a restyling to return the Galleria to its role as a favorite thoroughfare in the city center between Montecitorio and the Trevi Fountain, helping to make it a new intersection for tourism and shopping, as well as an important meeting place providing a broad range of functions and amenities.
In line with the contemporary commercial criteria of legibility and visibility, the redevelopment will emphasize the building's historic and architectural importance, removing the glass entrance doors to create stronger outdoor-indoor communication, and improving the lighting to make the location more welcoming and environmentally more sustainable. The stores, which will be reduced from 27 to 15, will be enhanced with restyled storefronts to create elegant spaces that ensure greater attention to quality and customers.
The project for the modernization of the approximately 10,000 sq.m of the Galleria is based on the highest principles of sustainability and aims to obtain BREEAM In-Use certification, an ambitious goal for a structurally complex listed historic building, intervention on which has been approved by the Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Assets and the Special Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Superintendency.
Thanks to the redevelopment, the Galleria Alberto Sordi will resume its original vocation as Rome's historic “drawing room”, to become not only an attractive and modern shopping arcade but also an ideal venue for cultural and arts events as a newly restored functional space.
The exhibition opened today, “Roma Street Art”, curated by David Vecchiato, known professionally as Diavù, was set up with this intention. The show presents more than 60 pieces by 22 of the most important names in this modern art form, who have helped to change the face of Rome over the years with hundreds of works. For the exhibition, they have developed the concept of La Dolce Vita as an artistic-cultural re-birth, starting with the restoration of the Galleria in its centenary year.
The exhibition will be open until the end of November; over the weeks, it will feature the creation of four works with live performances by four street artists.
“The Galleria Alberto Sordi is a unique place in the heart of the city, and we are proud to restore it to its proper importance, thanks to a redevelopment project that recovers the best of its one-hundred-year history integrated with modern livability, cutting-edge amenities and comfortable spaces. We will turn the Galleria into an open urban living space by restoring the original features of the building, making it more attractive to residents and tourists and meeting the needs of customers. We aim to host historic Rome shops and leading national and international brands from a variety of merchandise categories to create a new landmark for shopping in Rome,” said Prelios SGR CEO Patrick Del Bigio. “This modernization project is an expression of Prelios SGR's strategy to enhance and re-position the assets in its portfolio and create value for the shareholders of the funds it manages, further consolidating the Prelios Group's presence in value-added development projects that respect sustainability and the ability to re-qualify assets of outstanding historic and architectural value, so improving the local urban and economic fabric. With today's event – the first in a long series that will accompany the restoration of the Galleria – Prelios SGR confirms its strategic focus on the city of Rome. This is a market we consider fundamental, with further potential for consolidation in the near future, and a city where we manage and are redeveloping assets of enormous prestige, such as the Rinascente building in Piazza Fiume.”
“The Galleria Alberto Sordi is a natural attraction for commerce. With its architecture and strategic location, it is a natural showcase. Outstanding achievements like this must be enhanced and grown. This is exactly the job of a Council with a vision for the city. Over the years, the Galleria's ten thousand square meters were rescued from a state of disrepair, because until the early 2000s the former Galleria Colonna had been abandoned. Thanks to an important restoration, the Galleria Alberto Sordi was born and now we are here to present a project that will allow this shopping arcade to continue to grow and amplify its vocation as our city’s “drawing room”. A modern center where commerce will be joined by art and entertainment. We shall be able to modernize this architectural gem. And Rome will be able to take another step down the road to excellence. Commerce has undergone changes of epic proportions in the last few years, but, with players capable of innovation, I believe that new life can be breathed into the whole retail sector. The beauty of the Galleria and the unique fascination of our city will do the rest.” The statement came from the Municipal Councilor for Production Activities, Monica Lucarelli.
“Working on projects that have a central place in people’s lives is always a responsibility. In terms of its position and significance, the Galleria Alberto Sordi also has a central place at a cultural, political and international level,” said architect Adolfo Suarez, a partner with Lombardini22. “Ever since our Group was formed, our approach to responsibility, big or small, has been based on courage and fun. These two words represent our spirit and our projects. Thanks to the courage and fun that inform our work, we imagined, together with Prelios, that it was important for the Galleria to return to its original vocation, to its initial raison d’ȇtre. To go back to being a part of the city, a crossroads for politics, tourism and shopping. Walking through the Galleria will be natural and instinctive, a direct consequence of the location's opening up to the bustle of the city. Likewise, stopping to explore, choose and make a purchase. A road to walk down, a destination to stop in.”
The curator of the exhibition opened today, David Vecchiato, known professionally as Diavù, said: “With this exhibition, organized as the Galleria Alberto Sordi returns to life, I wanted to join the staff of MURo to present another re-birth, one that began on the walls of the Roman suburbs. An esthetic but also social re-birth, focused on rights and love of one's hometown. The exhibition also includes studio works by more than twenty of the artists who have been most involved in the creation of murals in Rome in recent years. It is an opportunity to see how street art is often the result of a complex and highly meaningful project that is not always understood.”