Bvlgari chooses the Eternal city of Rome, its hometown to unveil Aeterna, its new High-End Collection, presenting an assortment of over 500 creations, including High Jewelry and High Jewelry Watches, High-End Bags and Fragrances. The occasion of its 140th anniversary was celebrated with a breathtaking event at the historic location, Rome’s Terme di Diocleziano, one of the world’s most extraordinary antique architectural complexes and beautiful open-air museums in the Eternal City, part of the Museo Nazionale Romano. The Terme di Diocleziano only recently reopened to the public after long restoration works.
Considered the largest Baths of ancient Rome, spanning a surface of 13 hectares that was able to accommodate up to 3,000 people at once, the breathtaking complex, built between 298 and 306 AD, is adorned with splendid sculptures and fascinating ruins.
International guests present at the event included Bvlgari’s Brand Ambassadors Anne Hathaway, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Liu Yifei, Shu Qi, Hikari Mori and Alessandro Gassman. To celebrate the special anniversary, Bvlgari Brand Ambassador Priyanka Chopra Jonas wore the Serpenti Aeterna necklace, the most precious High Jewelry piece ever crafted by the Roman Maison. Featuring seven D flawless diamond drops totaling 140.00 carats, one for each year of the brand’s history, and 698 baguette diamonds weighting 61.81 carats, this incredible necklace required over 2,800 to complete, revealing an outstanding combination of creativity, expertise and audacity.
During the evening, the Terme di Diocleziano, hosted a spectacular jewelry show that took place in the Chiostro Ludovisi, an intimate space built over the Terme’s large outdoor pool. Styled by Carine Roitfeld, the show featured an iconic casting, including Mariacarla Boscono, Blesnya Minher, Elisabetta Dessy, Isabella Rossellini, Carla Bruni and Giacomo Cavalli.
Before the show started, guests had the chance to assist to a special, poetic duet by choreographer and dancer Sadeck Berrabah and ballet dancer Eleonora Abbagnato, the director of Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Mixing classic and contemporary dance, they celebrated Bvlgari’s ability to fuse past, present and future giving life to eternal works of art. Their performance was followed by a fascinating choreography by Sadeck Berrabah and 80 dancers, who moved synchronously, perfectly embodying his signature artistic direction.
At the Baths’ Chiostro di Michelangelo, named after the famous painter and sculptor to who it is traditionally attributed, Bvlgari delighted its guest with a gala dinner conceived by Italian Michelin-starred chef Massimiliano Alajmo, who developed a menu specifically designed for the event. The dinner was followed by a live performance by internationally acclaimed artist and songwriter Elisa.
For the occasion, “Vista Aeterna” an immersive installation created by Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis, has been gifted to the city of Rome under the patronage of the Fondazione Bvlgari. The artwork will be at iconic Piazza di Spagna from May, 19th to June, 15th, and offers a contemporary interpretation of Rome’s urban landscape. It consists of twelve travertine-based pillars adorned with reflective colored mirrors that continuously rotate throughout the day, tracing the path of the sun from dawn to dusk. As they move, they capture and refract sunlight, projecting a spectrum of warm, sun-inspired tones onto the surroundings. Providing an ever-changing vista, it is a perpetual celebration of the luminosity of the eternal city and its architectural heritage.
The Maison has also introduced the Bvlgari Digital Passport. This immutable digital record stores the unique characteristics and certificates of each High Jewelry creation on the Aura private blockchain, which safeguards product data indefinitely with the highest standards of transparency and security.
BVLGARI AETERNA SHOWROOM
Offering an immersion into the collection, Bvlgari showcased the Aeterna’s unique creations in the Aula X of the Terme di Diocleziano. A timeless space showing the grandeur of the ancient roman thermal bath with a spectacular height of approximately 22 meters. The extraordinary Serpenti Aeterna necklace shone in the middle of Ara Aeterna, a prominent dedicated space inside the showroom and a video revealing the craftsmanship behind its creation is presented in a customized theater.
A range of Aeterna key creations were unveiled in displays inspired by Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi and sitting in front of stunning reinterpretation of architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s prints, rendered on precious custom-made tapestries realized with the high-density jacquard technique by the historic Venetian weaving Rubelli.
The prints show the reproductions of the antique floor plan of Terme di Diocleziano and the Forma Urbis Severiana, an antique map of Rome engraved on marble slabs dating from the time of Septimius Severus (between 203 and 211 AD) that Piranesi collected in the Antichità Romane tome, published in 1756. A masterpiece that celebrates Rome’s historical heritage and Italian art, craftsmanship and technology and made possible by the collaboration between Bvlgari, the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica and Rubelli.
The table d’artiste showcased the magnificent High Jewelry creations in one-of-a-kind displays crafted in Italy from alabaster, the stone of light, putting the focus on the unique light of Rome.
