Mr Valentino Garavani by Richard AVEDON
Courtesy of FVG Services
PM23 opens in Rome, The New Cultural Space of the VALENTINO GARAVANI & GIANCARLO GIAMMETTI FOUNDATION
by Cinzia Malvini
It has opened in the very heart of Rome, in Piazza Mignanelli, an historic stage and silent witness to an extraordinary Roman era of fashion and life since the 1960s. And suddenly, everything felt more beautiful, as it was then, even more so than then.
“There is the past, but there is also so much future,” says Giancarlo Giammetti, welcoming us at the entrance of PM23, the cultural space of the Valentino Garavani – Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation, one of the most anticipated new venues in the cultural life of the Eternal City, and beyond.
“ ORIZZONTI ROSSO ”
A Debut Exhibition of Vision and Poetry, photo by Whatever Milan
The story of a grand legacy, not merely of fashion, but of vision, is revealed in this interview with G.G., recorded just hours before the official opening of PM23, in a city eager to embrace the future of Valentino Garavani, Rome’s eighth king.
Giancarlo Giammetti : “It’s a natural evolution. From the beginning, our intent has been to give back to the public. PM23 is a tangible gesture of openness and sharing. For us, philanthropy does not stop at charity, it implies vision, intention, and the building of legacy. Today, that commitment has a real home, in the very center of the city where we were born, ready to host new cultural and educational journeys to support creativity and emerging generations.
Giancarlo Giammetti e Sofia Loren Courtesy of FVG Services
With this exhibition, we wished to narrate a very full life. Not just the clothes, not just the art, but our lives, the things we’ve loved, the things that move us. The beauty we try to restore, not only from an aesthetic viewpoint but a moral one as well.”
Valentino Garavani e Linda Evangelista Courtesy of FVG Services
Valentino Garavani and Giselle Bündchen Courtesy of FVG Services
G.G.: “Beauty has tremendous power. Beauty creates beauty. We want to host masterclasses here, to help emerging talents, young artists. But we also want beauty to be a gift, that philanthropic side of our Foundation, for example, that supports the ‘Bambino Gesù’ Children’s Hospital, is something very dear to us.”
Above all, there is a sense of gratitude, toward the city, the Capital, that has participated in and embraced for five decades the dream of two young men: Valentino Garavani, from Voghera, and Giancarlo Giammetti, a true Roman. From the Hollywood-on-the-Tiber era to the 2000s. As the mayor Walter Veltroni once said: “There’s the Pope, and there’s Valentino. In this city, no one else is as famous…”
G.G.: “We could have done this in another city, our work has been international, we’ve shown in Paris, in America. But Rome is where we chose to live, and where we’ll end our days. It’s the city that made us who we became, and it’s only right to give something back. We try to offer something Rome hasn’t yet seen. This art collection, for instance, is quite exceptional, considering the names we’ve brought together for the first time.”
C.M.: Thinking back to the beginning—do you believe a story like yours, that extraordinary epic born in the 1960s, could still happen today?
G.G.: “Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any new major designers emerge. Many simply move from one fashion house to another. But who is the last designer to have started something under his own name? It’s difficult today. You’re either part of a large luxury group that decides where to move you next, or it becomes almost impossible. Still, I would love for a story like ours, so enduring, so impactful, to remain an inspiration for those who love this craft.”
C.M.: In a recent interview, you said that you and Valentino were brave, curious, never shy. You had a gift for absorbing and making your own the best of what the world had to offer.
Giancarlo Giammetti, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Valentino Garavani, private dinner for the Premiere of “VALENTINO: The Last Emperor”
The Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel, NYC, photo by Billy Farrell
Ready To Wear fall-winter 1977-1978 model 232 & Ready To Wear fall-winter 2004-2005 model 67
C.M.: Let’s talk about that magnificent jet set, which you interpreted like no one else. What drew the world, its finest, from queens to queens of Hollywood, to your atelier?
G.G.: “I believe it was Valentino’s character, never too humble, never arrogant. He dealt with everyone with such ease that he became a friend, often one of their best friends. There’s no name you can mention, from Jackie Kennedy to Gwyneth Paltrow, that wasn’t also a friendship.”
Haute couture show 2003-2004 Courtesy of FVG Services
G.G.: “We learned. We learned by seeing the very best of the moment, culture, art. Our friendships with Andy Warhol, Basquiat, Cy Twombly… they deepened that curiosity, the desire to see more, to know more, to collect more. And that’s the point: curiosity. We still have a little of it, even now… yes.”
C.M.: And does fashion still spark that curiosity? If so, how much?
G.G.: “Very little. I still follow the fashion houses closest to us, those where people we once worked with are now active. We are waiting, with great interest and great hope, to see what Pierpaolo Piccioli does at Balenciaga. That, yes. The rest… not so much.”
To do it all again, perhaps beginning with that chance encounter on Via Veneto, whether it was Caffè Doney or Café de Paris. A story of fashion. A story of love.
G.G.: “It was Café de Paris on Via Veneto—I insist. Of course I would do it all again. We had a remarkable life. I had beside me someone who taught me, but also protected me… That’s a legacy. One that will never fade, for me.”
A legacy spoken in the language of love.
G.G.: “Love was an extraordinary thread through the different seasons of life. A different love, naturally, one that changes and transforms over time… But there is still an immense love between me and Valentino, as strong as on the very first day.”
Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, Courtesy of FVG Services
Cinzia Malvini, 2025
Young Valentino Garavani in Atelier, Courtesy of FVG Services
