Restyling Rinascente



Proposed suspended terrace at Rinascente



By Paige Gherardi

The terrace on top of the Rinascente department store has long been a gem of Florence. Tourists and locals alike flock to the terrace for coffee, tea, and aperitivo for a unique view of Florence with the Duomo practically at an arm’s length. A new investment idea for Rinascente has been proposed by owner Central Retail Corporation Ltd. to remodel and restyle the successful department store. The idea is to remodel the terrace to make it around 200 square meters. This new terrace would be suspended over the current terrace, though the idea is still in the forming stage. Ideas  for the suspended space include a larger terrace, a restaurant, and an outdoor area to buy handmade crafts. First, the idea needs to be approved by Palazzo Vecchio and the regional board of the ministry of cultural heritage, who oversee projects on all historical palazzos in Florence. Rinascente Florence’s general director, Alberto Baldan, explains that “the objective is to invest in the Florence store because we consider it to be a pearl in our store collection considering that it had the best performance on increased sales in respect to 2010”. Rinascente’s home, Palazzo Trianon, is one of the Belle Arti of Florence and vice mayor Dario Nardella is on board with increasing its value. This €10-12 million project is only in its beginning stages and has already created a lot of hype and excitement at the idea of a new space in Florence. Plans also include remodeling the interior to be more like the store in Milan. While these big changes are in the making, the department store also has a change for the Holiday Season. The storefront will still have its usual displays, but decorations will be taken to the next level when Rinascente lights the millions of LED lights covering the entire Palazzo in the first week of December.

Source: http://corrierefiorentino.corriere.it/firenze/notizie/cronaca/2011/19-novembre-2011/terrazza-sospesa-10-milioni-1902235412898.shtml