Good things come in small packages, and in the case of the Teatro della Cometa de Rome, a 233 seats with velvet chairs of cherry red and beautiful gold embroidered balconies, an exquisite one. The place, designed in the postwar years for the Countess of the Patroness of Italian Artes Anna Laetitia Peci-Blunt (known as Mimì), is now in the hands of Maria Grazia Chiuri, 61, who has been creative director of Dior Womenswear since 2016. PECI-BLUNT first conceived. It is a passion project that is very close to home: Chiuri was born, grew and educated in Rome and has been despised with the building for years.
“When we buy the theater [in 2020]It was super super-showbby and they are not in a way not abundant, but I think we have found a good balance between maintaining the spirit and creating a flexible and efficient space for different types of actions, “he says about the sensitive and highly technical restoration that has taken deep pockets and four years to complete.” If you love a place, you have to maintain energy and essence. “
The duo, both with custom pants and black floors, sitting in the center of the stage on a rotating podium, observe an imaginary audience and even the director of the newly installed director with a mixture of pride and vertiginous trepidation. They are determined to preserve the soul of the place, since they point out the restored floor tables that were damaged in a fire in the late 1960s, and detail the various programs that cover plays, readings, recitals and performances that they imagine. The gleaming symbols of the metal star that appear as handles of the doors, light accessories and at the ends of the handrails along the 1,100 square meters, they point out new beginnings.
Such large schemes require commitment and patience. Chiuri, not shy from hard work, has dedicated his life to fashion, maintaining key positions in Fendi, Valentino and currently Dior. Reginiwho studied the history of art at Goldsmiths University, followed by a master’s degree in gender, media and culture, began his career in the museums of Rome before Chiuri touched her as a cultural advisor in Dior. In the theater, their skills and talents also fit, with Regini bringing the voice of a younger generation to the table. Instead of appointing an artistic director, Theater Della Cometa is working with a series of curators in different genres.
His great reopening at the end of this month, coinciding with the Dior’s Cruise show, will be accompanied by an exhibition dedicated to its history from 1958 to 1969 and its founder (which died in 1971), along with a series of paintings of paintings, which reimagine scenes of extraordinary life and the Oeuvre of Pecci-Claus. The guests will roam through scenes led by Lorenzo Salveti and organized by the Italian artist Pietro RuffoWith a musical score of Paolo Buonvino and critic and curator costumes Maria Luisa Frisa. It will be a highly collaborative issue in established and emerging talents.
“Mimì was an incredible woman,” says Chiuri. “I am fascinated by its history. I was so in love with the arts. What is still unknown is your file. I kept visual and written documents of every thing I was doing.” Working with Expert Archives, she has just begun scratching the surface of Pecci-Blunt’s interests. “There are thousands of photo albums, graphic posters, newspaper clips and magazines, and Mimì photos with Salvador Dalí, with Audrey Hepburn, all,” adds Regini.
Pecci-Blunt was the daughter of Count Camillo Pecci (Pope Leo XIII’s nephew) and his wife, Míssions Silvia Buyo and Garzón. She designed her own life, became friends with the artists, married an rich American (Cecil Blumenthal) and dedicated himself to the arts. His circle rivaled those of the best -known artistic clients, including Peggy Guggenheim and Elsa Schiaparelli.
Theater of the Cometa was first conceived as the private theater of Pecci-Blunt: an addition of jewel to his elegant 16th century palazzo in Piazza d’Aracoeli. Here, he invited artists, actors, musicians and writers to develop and carry out avant -garde of playwrights, including Beckett, Ionesco and Kopit for a constantly evolving audience of high society, creative and local Romans. He opened to the public in 1958 and became the toast of the city before a fire led to his shutter in 1969. It is not that everything was fucking and roses. As Chiuri points out, two world wars and the rise of fascism in Italy have not gone radically their lives. The arts provided a subversive exploration point, as well as escape. “Living even a fraction of his life would be super interesting. Nobody lives like this anymore,” says Regini.
The seeds behind Chiuri’s investment were planted many years ago. For a long time she had been in love with the Pecci-Blunt residence located at the foot of Capitoline Hill in the heart of ancient Rome, and rented part of the building for its 50th birthday celebrations. “There was an attraction that could not explain,” says Chiuri. Two years later, in 2016, she was appointed in Dior and moved to Paris.
Meanwhile, the theater of the comet had a second life after the fire, since the 1980s onwards, but with limited funds he gradually fell into poor condition, before Covid led to its closure and Chiuri intervened to buy it. Had he ever imagined having a theater? “Never. Never. Never!” She laughs, raising her hands. Regini believes that Destiny touched a hand. “You fell in love with Mimì’s house long before you really bought the theater. 20 years have passed in process, destined to be! “
Pragmatism also played a role. “I worried that someone could make it completely different as a supermarket or a nightclub and destroy it completely,” Chiuri explains. Regini nods. “Ultimately, I think we were very happy to assume this project as a family because we wanted to do something together that was creative, artistic and for the city of Rome,” she says. Rome has few experimental places. “We embark on this trip together,” says Regini. “I remember asking: ‘Are we sure we are going to do this? Are we in this?’ Because it is not in the short term, it is a lifetime. ”
When Chiuri and Regini began to work by recruiting an architect, his number one choice was Fabio Tudisco, who joined the theater for the first time in the mid -80s as a stage and technical. He knows space intimately and its peculiar history. “Mimì bought this building in 1937, but at the time they lived in New York, they had fled from Europe because her husband was a Jewish. Tudisco says. Pecci-Blunt and her husband then contracted the acclaimed architect and interior designer Tomaso Buzzi to transform the cinema into a theater. Buzzi realized a complete charming space with a double sliding ladder, two balcony levels and bright metal accessories inspired by the comet in the family heraldry of Pecci-Blunt. Chiuri has had the candlesticks restored by Specialist Open Space, commissioned the new comet lights since Viabizzuno and they introduced lounge sofas backed by Italian designer medallions Marta Sala.
The theater includes mobile seats, a newly designed rotating podium stage, latest generation lighting platforms and an orchestra well. Tudisco proudly demonstrates the hydraulic system. “The idea was to create a space in operation for people who work here and also a highly adaptable place where you can use different aspects of it,” says Chiuri. (A cafeteria throughout the day will also be open to non -ticket holders).
With 35 million tourists and pilgrims that are expected to visit Rome this year, the city is showing its best culture, devotional, gastronomy and hospitality. And fashion is playing its role: Fendi, born in Rome, celebrates its year 100, and the Chiuri cruise collection for Dior is exhibited in the city next week. Theater Della Comet, for its part, proposes a new delight, its small scale and its experimental offer contrasting brilliantly with the monumentality of the eternal city.