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Relax Italo-Style at Six Senses Rome
Six Senses offers exquisite hospitality experiences that whisk guests to UNESCO World Heritage Sites from Dujiangyan, China, to Portugal’s Douro Valley. But only one incorporates the restoration of an entire city center. Six Senses Rome, the brand’s Italian arrivo, is tucked into the Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini. It features columns dating back 600 years, and a main entrance marked by a fourth-century baptismal bath sunk below the glass tiles of Bivium, chef Nadia Frisina’s Roman Empire–themed restaurant. (For actual bathing, spend an hour moving through the calidarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium rituals at the spa’s Roman bathing circuit.)
Contemporary touches in the 96 guest rooms come courtesy of Patricia Urquiola, whose vision mixes with local travertine and cocciopesto walls. The organic mattresses and bedding are bespoke comforts from the Sleep with Six Senses collection. And while some rooms offer courtyard views, and selected suites overlook the vibrant Via del Corso, the ultimate stay is in the corner suite thanks to views of the nearby San Marcello al Corso Church. Its stunning facade, completed in 1697 by architect Carlo Fontana, has been renovated by Six Senses in its first sponsored sustainability project, nodding to UNESCO itself. —Jesse Dorris
“Sound Suits” by Nick Cave at the 2022 edition of FORMAT Festival. Photography by Charles Reagan Hackleman…
LCD Soundsystem and the Guerrilla Girls are slated for this year’s FORMAT festival.
Bentonville, Arkansas, the hub of the Walmart empire, is expanding its cultural offerings with the return of the FORMAT music, art, and technology festival in September. This year’s event features an impressive lineup of musicians including LCD Soundsystem, Alanis Morissette, Leon Bridges, and Modest Mouse alongside an array of artists including the Guerrilla Girls, JR’s Inside Out Project, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed. Mafalda Millies and Roya Sachs, the festival’s co-curators, are bringing creative talents to the heart of a region that typically sees little festival activity, giving visitors a chance to experience art in a unique new environment.
Ennead Architects restore the dome of a long-unfinished New York City cathedral.
The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, which goes by the nickname St. John the Unfinished, is a grand structure lacking a spire, its south transept, and fully realized towers. After a three-year-long, $17 million renovation, the New York cathedral has completed repair work on its dome. Ennead Architects refaced and restored the dome, which features Rafael Guastavino’s recognizable tilework and was originally intended to be temporary. The architects anticipate that with proper care, the restored dome could last another 100 years.
Frieze parent company Endeavor has acquired wrestling giant WWE for $9.3 billion.
Endeavor, the Hollywood talent giant that owns the art fair and media company Frieze, has acquired World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The $9.3 billion deal will merge the wrestling promotion company with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), another combat sports company owned by Endeavor. The new sports and entertainment company will be led by Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel and WWE’s Vince McMahon. Since acquiring Frieze in 2016, Endeavor has expanded the art media company with new fairs in Los Angeles and Seoul and gone public with an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
California High-Speed Rail station by Foster + Partners and Arup. Image courtesy of Foster + Partners…
Foster + Partners and Arup design the first four California High-Speed Rail stations.
Foster + Partners and Arup have revealed plans to design the first four California High-Speed Rail stations, which will serve the initial 171-mile segment of the project in the Central Valley region. The joint venture will work with local interests during the two-stage design and development process, following the delivery of a “system-wide vision plan” for the proposed 500-mile project that will become America’s first-ever high-speed railway. Construction on the segment is almost complete, and the final sections are expected to be finished by 2033, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s 2023 Project Update Report.
With a net worth of $200 billion, Bernard Arnault becomes the world’s richest person.
Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire and CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH, has become the world’s richest person and the third person ever (after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos) to surpass the $200 billion mark in net worth, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. With a total net worth of $201 billion, Arnault is also the first non-American to achieve this milestone. As the demand for luxury goods remains strong, Arnault’s empire continues to hold up better than tech companies, resulting in a net worth increase of $39 billion this year alone.
Native activists push for a contested Miami ancestral site to get landmark designation.
Related Group, the developers behind a contentious luxury hotel project in Brickell, Miami, have promised to respect the findings on private property and follow all ordinances regarding the discovery of a significant ancestral site during construction. However, the site’s future, which dates to the Tequesta Civilization, is still uncertain. Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board voted 8-0 to withdraw the advancement of a designation proposal for one lot that was already dug up until developers bring a concrete action plan regarding what will happen to the findings for the next meeting. Board members approved a proposal for the possible designation of another lot, which has yet to be excavated, as a protected archaeological landmark.
Today’s attractive distractions:
Cheeky cookie jars have always been kitschy vessels for self-expression.
Mathematicians invent a 13-sided “Einstein” shape with curious qualities.
Big bows are gracing interiors in the latest example of “dressed-up decor.”
