ACNE Takes Lucamaleonte’s Art to Testaccio
How small businesses in this Roman district ReStart thanks to creativity
On the occasion of the initiative ReStart, the Roman street artist Lucamaleonte created a mural on one of the entrances of the Testaccio Market. The artwork reinterprets the historical identity of the district telling the story of the “Mountain of Sherds”, while showing what Restart means for the local community according to the owners of the involved businesses.
Small businesses suffered the most during the pandemic. ACNE, the creative collective of the Deloitte family, decided to support them through art and creativity with the initiative ReStart that is now landing in Rome. After the success of the first edition held in Milan, ACNE decided to take ReStart to Testaccio, a neighborhood of the Capital City, and to collaborate with the well-known street artist Lucamaleonte. He created an 8-panel mural at the entrance of the Testaccio Market, in Via Franklin, 12.
“With ReStart we wanted to use the power of creativity to support two categories that have been heavily affected by the pandemic: emerging artists and small businesses. We wanted to build an opportunity of rebirth and restart,” explains Andrea Laurenza, Deloitte Digital and ACNE Leader. “To do so, we have mixed creativity with culture and design to help the Testaccio neighborhood to embark on a path of sustainable revitalization. This project uses art to support the local community and contribute to restarting in different areas: art, culture, inclusion, well-being, and urban regeneration,” adds the spokesman of ACNE Italy.
The mural dedicated to the neighborhood is inspired by its history. The district was once known as “Monte dei Cocci” (from the Latin mons testaceus, meaning, “mountain made of shards”), since it was built on the numerous layers of shards of over 53 million ancient roman amphorae. The mural wants to put the “shards” back together to create something new: his work will depict an “amphora” (vase), a collage of six different fragments inspired by quotes and inspirations given by local shopkeepers.
Finally, every shop will receive a print depicting the fragment of the mural dedicated to them. The limited-edition prints will be gifted to the customers of the Testaccio Market from December 16th to 21st. The goal is to encourage the public to “live” the neighbourhood: only supporting the Testaccio Market purchasing in all different shops it will be possible to have the reproduction of the entire mural.
“The sense of identity and belonging in this neighbourhood of Rome is unique”, says Andrea Laurenza, “with this project by ACNE we want to support local communities, starting from the iconic neighbourhoods where our headquarters are located. We hope that ReStart won’t be an initiative on its own and it will be inspirational for other businesses that share our values and want to support the local communities hosting them. Reason why we consider ReStart an open and shared platform available to everyone who wants to have a social, local, and cultural impact.”
The small businesses involved
Le Bambole – https://www.lebambole-testaccio.it/
Cinema Greenwich – https://www.multisalagreenwichroma.com/select_cinema?mandatory=true
Macelleria Boattini Alfredo
Oreficeria Collalti – https://collaltidario.com/
Archegonia – https://archegonia.com/
Emporio delle Spezie – https://www.emporiodellespezie.it/
