Trevi fountain in Rome gets a Fendi makeover

 

Monday 28 January 2013 19:45 GMT
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Italian fashion house Fendi announced it would finance a renovation of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, becoming the latest luxury group to fund repairs on a priceless heritage
Italian fashion house Fendi announced it would finance a renovation of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, becoming the latest luxury group to fund repairs on a priceless heritage

The Fendi fashion house has announced that it is financing the €2.18m (£1.88m) restoration of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the latest fashion company to come to the aid of Italy’s chronically underfunded cultural heritage.

The 20-month project on one of the city's most iconic fountains, as splashed in by Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita, was unveiled at a city hall press conference featuring Fendi designers Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi, who said the project combined a love of Rome's past with a need to preserve its future.

Rome's fountains, Lagerfeld said, "are there to glorify water, which is the most important thing in life."

It's the latest example of Italian fashion companies coming to the aid of Italy's chronically underfunded cultural heritage. The founder of the Tod's footwear company is footing the bill for the €25m (£21 million) restoration of Rome's ancient Colosseum, and Mayor Gianni Alemanno said he hoped these two donations were just the start.

"Without similar initiatives, we won't be able to save the cultural memory of our country," Alemanno said.

AP

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