Audrey in Roma - Photography exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum from October 26th to December 4th, 2011

A TRIBUTE TO AUDREY HEPBURN IN SUPPORT OF UNICEF: Unpublished photos, videos and personal fashion items belonging to one of the icons of our time

On the fiftieth anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and simultaneously with the Rome International Film Festival, eternal city will be honoring Audrey Hepburn for the first time with a tribute-exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum. This celebration of Audrey in "her" Rome will raise funds for UNICEF's project to fight child malnutrition, in conjunction with the Club Amici di Audrey (Friends of Audrey). Hepburn devoted the last years of her life to serving as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A portion (25%) of the Ara Pacis Museum entrance fee will be donated to UNICEF Italy's mission in CHAD.

The Audrey in Rome exhibit is being promoted by the City of Rome Department for Cultural Policies and Historic Center - the Cultural Heritage Superintendence, the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund and UNICEF, together with the Club Amici di Audrey at the Italy Fund for UNICEF. Zètema Progetto Cultura is handling the event's organization and museum services. The exhibition contains images, videos and personal objects that recall the three lives the actress lived in Rome: as an actress, mother and UNICEF Ambassador. Spanning twenty-five years, Audrey shared key moments of her career with Rome, from Roman Holiday to War and Peace and The Nun's Story. But more so, she shared with Rome many years of family life in close contact with the city and its residents.

The exhibit is curated by Audrey Hepburn's son, Luca Dotti, together with Ludovica Damiani, Sciascia Gambaccini and Guido Torlonia, with the consultancy of Sava Bisazza Terracini.

A selection of unpublished shots from the archives of Reporters Associati, Photomasi, Istituto Luce and Kobal Collection capture Audrey Hepburn during her everyday life in Rome. Captions, wall panels and graphics will illustrate personal recollections of the relationship between Audrey and Rome.

Considering the tie between Audrey Hepburn's life and style, the images come to life as they are displayed with the fashion items in the photos and which she wore during that era. Featuring creations by Givenchy, Valentino and many others, together with her 'everyday' clothes she wore in her daily life, give us an unprecedented look into the fashion of the times.

The exhibit also displays pictures from UNICEF Archives which document Audrey Hepburn's missions among the children of Bangladesh, Vietnam, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Latin America, to whom she devoted those last precious years.

Rome in one image. A brand for the city of Rome

17 September - 3 October 2010

On display are seventy of the many projects received by the City of Rome for the national competition to design the new logo for the promotion of cultural and tourist resources of the city: Rome in one image.

(ANSA) - Rome, June 1 - A wall of Rome's controversial Ara Pacis museum was spattered in bursts of red and green paint on Monday in an attack by unidentified vandals.

Police arrived on the scene at dawn after being alerted to the paint splashes, which were in the colours of the Italian flag.

The Ara Pacis museum, a controversial modern museum in central Rome, has been hit by vandals with paint-filled balloons.

Vandals left a porcelain toilet and two packs of toilet paper next to the museum in the overnight attack, which appeared to be a comment on the design.

The paint on the white, block-like structure was red and green — the colours of the Italian flag.

There have been objections to the modern outline of the building by Richard Meier since the U.S. architect was hired to design it.

Right-wing Mayor Gianni Alemanno last year threatened to move the building which was a project of his predecessor. His criticism is that the modern structure doesn't fit with Rome's classical architecture.

The mayor has begun negotiations with the architect in an attempt to change the design. And he condemned the vandals.

Photo courtesy of the AP (Riccardo De Luca/Associated Press). If anyone has any photos they took email them to me and I will post them here.

The Musem of the Ara Pacis in Rome is hosting an important exhibition dedicated entirely to versatile Milanese artist – a sculptor, illustrator, graphic artist and industrial designer – Bruno Munari.

The exhibition follows on from an in-depth study and a project refined in the years that followed its inception. It includes some of the artist's most notable works, like his shop window displays from the 40s and 50s, the artistic contributions he made to architectural projects between the 50s and 60s, his graphic design projects and work done in collaboration with some of Italy's most significant cultural contributors in the period following WWII such as Einaudi, La Rinascente, Olivetti and Danese.

"The longer I'm involved in this the more bizarre it seems,'' said Meier, who accuses Alemanno of animosity toward the arts.

And this nugget from Culture Minister Sandro Bondi:

"It's really difficult for me to find beauty in contemporary art,'' said Bondi in an interview in the current issue of Italian women's magazine Grazia. "If I visit a show, like many people I pretend to understand. But sincerely, I don't understand.''

I have to say that if i was the Culture Minister of any country I would make it and important part of my job to understand contemporary art. I may not like it - but I would know how to talk about it in a critical, informed manner - and not just say "I pretend to understand". This is shameful - I hope that something was lost in the translation of this quote.

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government plans to tear down part of a Rome museum designed by U.S. architect Richard Meier, Corriere della Sera said, citing comments by Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro.

A travertine stone wall at the Ara Pacis museum will be removed to facilitate viewing of two historic churches in the same square that houses the 2,000-year-old Mausoleum of Roman Emperor Augustus, Giro said yesterday at the museum, according to the report. A section of another travertine wall connected to the museum also will be knocked down, he said.

Giro said Roman Mayor Giovanni Alemanno agrees on the plan, and a joint meeting between the mayor's office and the Culture Ministry will be held in September or October to discuss technical issues, according to Corriere.

The Meier-designed museum was inaugurated in 2006 and houses the Ara Pacis, an altar constructed in 9 B.C. to commemorate the peace following Rome's Gallic and Spanish campaigns.

Photo courtesy of and copyrighted by World Architecture News, and Mahalie & Uglynoid