La Rinascente

La Rinascente was founded in 1865 in Milan by brothers Luigi and Ferdinando Bocconi as a small department store on Via Santa Radegonda, originally called 'Aux Villes d'Italie' before being renamed La Rinascente in 1917 by the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (the name translates approximately to 'The Rising One,' referring to the post-WWI rebuilding of Italy). The brand expanded through the 20th century to become Italy's defining luxury department store, with the iconic Piazza del Duomo flagship (opposite Milan Cathedral) anchoring the brand's position in the Italian luxury market. The La Rinascente vocabulary settled around several distinguishing things: the eight-floor Piazza del Duomo flagship with its iconic seventh-floor rooftop terrace (offering one of Milan's most-photographed views of the Duomo cathedral), a buyer-led brand list anchored to the major Italian luxury houses (Prada, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Etro, Missoni, Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana, MSGM) plus the major LVMH and Kering houses, the iconic basement-level gourmet food hall and the seventh-floor restaurants-and-cafés including the Maio Restaurant, and the rooftop terrace bar. La Rinascente is owned by Central Group (the Thai-Austrian retail conglomerate controlled by the Chirathivat family) which acquired the company in 2011. The retailer operates approximately 10 flagship locations across Italy — Milan (Piazza del Duomo, the flagship), Rome (Via del Tritone — the second flagship), Florence (Piazza della Repubblica), Turin (Via Lagrange), Padua, Catania, Cagliari, plus the La Rinascente e-commerce platform. The Piazza del Duomo Milan flagship, which spans approximately 200,000 square feet across eight floors, is the largest department store in Italy and one of the most-visited Milan cultural-tourist destinations.