A visit to the marble-covered Apple Via del Corso is an Apple Store experience that offers unexpected artwork and masses of culture. AppleInsider visited the store to check out the mix of old and new.
Apple Via del Corso opened as Apple’s 17th store in Italy back in 2021. It’s one of three storefronts in Rome itself, the only non-mall style store in the city, and it’s an extremely impressive location for the iPhone seller.
As part of our periodic tours of Apple Stores around the world, one member of the AppleInsider editorial team paid a visit to the store while in the region.
The day of the visit in early April was on a fairly warm afternoon, after miles of sightseeing. A few minutes walk away from the extremely tourist-filled Trevi Fountain, the Apple Via del Corso was shown on Google Maps to be busier than usual, leaving little hope for a quiet visit.
That turned out to be far from the reality, as there were relatively few people visible at Apple Via del Corso. There were more staff members on the floor than customers.
A modernized classic
From the outside, the store fits in seamlessly with the rest of the area. A chunky front facade surrounds giant glass panels, which give a peek into the store while also letting in vast amounts of light.
However, unlike other stores that made their signage more prominent at street level, Apple’s lit logo appears above the tall glass doors, within the alcove. While it’s a big and prominent store for Apple, it’s also not hard for people to miss it while walking by.
It’s a muted start to the shopping experience, but one that immediately becomes familiar once you get inside.
You are greeted with large marble rooms at the ground level. Light grey and almost white marble stretches across the floor and up the walls, stretching to the ceiling filled with inset lights.
The giant windows from the outdoors prove their worth by letting light in, and are set into quite deep alcoves around the edges.
All of the grey and white also contrasts against the wooden product cabinets and desks that are traditional of Apple. You can certainly tell it’s an Apple Store, but it’s a style that’s very different to the environment it’s set in.
It’s as if someone placed an Ikea Lack table in the Oval Office of the White House. It’s functional, but not what you would otherwise expect based on the location.
The store is not just a few large rooms on the ground floor, as it leads off into a few other areas.
Downstairs also houses a courtyard in the middle of the building, complete with a collection of Camphora trees. They’re lined up beside columns and hanging lamps, and is an inviting area it hang out in for a bit of peace and quiet.
You can also see other vines and trees on an upper terrace, which adds to the space.
Connecting the rooms are small marble-lined corridors with large glass doors. However, you can also go upstairs to more spaces via an extremely grand marble staircase.
Looking up as you climb, you’ll see decorative features on the ceiling, around the skylight.
It’s not quite the same as the Sistine Chapel, but it’s still nice to look at. Considerably less crowded too.
Upstairs is the Forum, which includes spaces for the Genius Bar and Today at Apple presentations. Again, all clad with marble floors and a lot of wood furniture on a light background.
Cultural additions
The appeal of Apple Via del Corso isn’t just that it’s an Apple Store. Alongside the typical product-laden desks and cabinetry on the sides, as well as the large glass windows and panels, the store also heavily nods at the building’s cultural history.
The building itself, Palazzo Marignoli was originally constructed in 1873, designed by architect Salvatore Bianchi and renovated by Giulio Podesti. It housed Caffe Aragno, a well-known gathering place for artists and writers in the city, and is home to a number of pieces of art.
With a strong connection to art and culture, it’s no wonder that Apple’s refurbishment team put a lot of work into making the store as stunning as possible. The team also made an effort to restore artworks incorporated into the store itself, thanks to local restorers.
In the ceiling downstairs, you’ll find restorations of artworks including Fabio Cipolla’s “Dawn” and Ettore Ballerini’s “Dusk.” While in the ceiling, they’re still large, easy to see, and a very unexpected addition to the Apple Store.
The walls also have artworks on them, though of a more abstract variety. Brown panels with decorative scratches around the store turn out to be graffiti by Italian painter Afro Basaldella in the 1950s.
Given the overall surroundings of the Apple Store location itself, the heavy use of marble and light-colored walls, and the unique artworks on display, Apple has arguably made a mini-museum experience. One that could even please art lovers waiting as their loved ones pick up a new iPhone.
An oasis of calm
As a flagship store, you would expect Apple Via del Corso to be an extremely busy and spectacular location. It’s certainly the case that it’s an impressive storefront for the company, but it’s also one that offers a feeling of calmness.
Though we were lucky to turn up on a day with relatively few people in-store, despite it being in the region of multiple high-traffic tourist locations, it feels like it would be a reasonably quiet shopping experience even when full. The tall ceilings and the reverberations from the marble gives off a feeling of being in a museum, enough to possibly encourage people to minimize noise.
Even entering the store is an auditory change, from the busy and noisy streets outside to a more refined shopping experience inside.
Add in the existence of the tree-filled courtyard, and you have an Apple Store that feels part museum, part exhibit in its own right.
If the Apple Store doesn’t do enough to be relaxing, there’s always another option. There’s a Starbucks around the back of the building that’s also a cocktail bar.
