Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE ARTISTS' STREET
Via Margutta has long been associated with art and artists, and today it is still lined with antique shops and art
galleries.
'The street's reputation goes back to the 16th century, when it was declared a tax-free zone for artists,' explains
'If you were an artist and a resident, you paid no taxes, so artists came from all over Europe. Also, there was
Villa Medici nearby and all the winners of the Prix de Rome (a prestigious French art scholarship) would often
come down here.'
By the late 1800s, the studio that Valentina's family had established in the mid-19th century had grown into a
popular meeting point for visiting artists, writers and musicians. Valentina notes 'A string of important musicians
visited, including all the Italian opera greats - Puccini, Verdi, Mascagni - as well as the composers Wagner, Liszt
and Debussy. The Italian futurists also held their first meetings here and in 1917 Picasso worked here; he met his
wife, Olga, in the courtyard of number 54.'
Of the street's more recent residents, the most famous is film director Federico Fellini, who lived at number
110 with his wife Giulietta Masina until his death in 1993.
GAGOSIAN GALLERY
( 06 4208 6498;
www.gagosian.com
; Via Francesco Crispi 16; 10.30am-7pm Tue-Sat; Barberini)
F
Since it opened in 2007, the Rome branch of Larry Gagosian's contemporary art empire
has hosted the big names of modern art: Cy Twombly, Damien Hirst and Lawrence Wein-
er, to name a few. The gallery is housed in a stylishly converted 1920s bank, and was de-
signed by Roman architect Firouz Galdo and Englishman Caruso St John.
Always worth a look, exhibitions are housed in a dramatic, airy 750-sq-metre area and
the building is fronted by a theatrical neoclassical colonnaded facade.
GALLERY
