TRIESTE From banking center to innovative gym: the former Banco di Napoli headquarters in Trieste, located on the corner of Corso Italia 5 and via Donota, is officially a fitness centre.
The German colossus RSG Group, European leader in innovation in the gymnastic sector, lands in Trieste with the “John Reed” brand: it is one of the three brands present in Italy together with McFIT and Gold’s Gym.
Here is the press release:
“After Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, Istanbul and Vienna, “John Reed Fitness Music Club” opens its doors in the historic center of Trieste. This is the number 45 club in the world for a constantly growing brand, which makes the architecture of the chosen locations, art and music its founding characteristics.
At the inauguration, together with many international representatives of the group, Vito Scavo, Sole Director of RSG Group Italia, Samuele Frosio, Country Manager Italy of RSG Group, the regional president Massimiliano Fedriga and the mayor Roberto Dipiazza, together with many institutional representatives.
“RSG Group has always had an emotional bond with the city of Trieste, where there is an international and vibrant climate – he explains Vito Scavo – We are a constantly growing group in Italy and the 42nd center in the country (39 McFIT, 2 John Reed and 1 Gold’s Gym) represents a starting point and the will to continue investing. During 2023 we are planning other openings and we are very happy with the path we have taken”
Photo Lasorte
From banking temple to Fitness reference point
The building, a former bank of the Fascist period, was for years the symbol of the capital of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Abandoned for years by credit use, it has been taken over by RSG Group, the German multinational fitness company, and transformed into one of the largest fitness complexes in Italy.
It is a space of 2000 square meters, with 200 machines and which can accommodate up to 200 people at the same time.
A completely renovated four-storey historic building: the bank vault will thus become the weight room, on the ground floor the counters of the former bank, built in stone, will be adapted to reception, bistro and console area for DJs, in a covered with marble. The vast entrance hall can also be used to organize events. The first floor, characterized by historic marble and wooden floors, will instead house the training room and the basic area, while the second floor, in addition to offering a splendid view of the historic centre, will house the sauna and changing rooms. Yoga, Pilates, Hiit, Total Body, Step Workout and many other courses.
Mayor Dipiazza at the inauguration. Photo Lasorte
Fitness, Musica e Design
The brand launches a completely new fitness concept in Trieste, where training, music and design can coexist. Inside the John Reed Fitness Music Club, twice a week, the Workouts will have a live DJ set in the background, with the aim of making the experience of those who train unique and exciting.
For those who are not satisfied, JOHN REED Fitness Music Club organizes a monthly BOOST CLUB specifically designed to give its subscribers even more music and entertainment. Each subscriber can bring an external friend as a guest. The BOOST CLUB is an intensive Total Body group training session with a trainer and live DJ music: a circuit training session, characterized by great team spirit and motivating group dynamics.
It’s not just the music that makes the center innovative: the design and lights also play a fundamental role in creating a club atmosphere. Anyone who has trained at JOHN REED Fitness Music Club knows that this is more than just a fitness club. JOHN REED combines music, design and fitness with unprecedented originality and takes training to a whole new level. No two clubs are the same: in each city, the environment and the creative scene are taken up in the design concept and implemented by the interiors through works by local artists. In this way, each club has its own unmistakable DNA.
Photo Lasorte
Some of the internal rooms of the gymnasium
fitness and art
Art plays a central role in the JOHN REED Fitness Music Club in Trieste: sixteen international artists, two thousand square meters of painted works and a prestigious palace of Italian rationalism from the Fascist period in the heart of the city. Peeta, Ravo, Joys, Ozmo, Rancy, Oger, Amina, Sorte, Stuer, Corvino, Fosk, Stefano and Mattia Bonora, Samuele Frosio, Ron Miller and Andrea639, the most famous artists who have made the history of Writing and Street Art , nationally and internationally, are also the authors of monumental Urban Art works inside the building, undertaking the task of restoring new life (and colors) to the historic building from the 1930s, transformed into a temple of Italian Urban Art .
To guide them, Luca Mayr, curator and artistic director of Urban Colors, and Ron Miller, art director of the project. “Urban Colors, on the strength of its experience in the field, understood John Reed’s wishes and proposed in an environment with strong imperial and rationalist tones an opposing contemporary art operation but in dialogue with the context” – explains Luca Mayr, curator and artistic director of Urban Colors. “The works of the artists communicate to the observer not only a strong detachment from the austerity of the structure, but propose an engaging language key in the different rooms offering the visitor an unconventional experience”.
For the first time in Italy, inside the gymnasium, from 25 November 2022 to 24 January 2023, around 50 exclusive works will be exhibited created by the same artists who took part in the great Urban Art operation. The exhibition, which will be free and open to the public, it will present works that recall what the artists have created, recalling, in each canvas, the typical style of each of them engaged in the redevelopment project.
One of the artists involved is Samuele Frosio, Country Manager Italy of RSG Group: “For the second opening of John Reed in Italy we have identified Trieste because historically it is a cradle of encounter for different cultures, arts and sounds – declares Samuele Frosio, Country Manager Italy by RSG Group and informal artist – John Reed is a brand that makes music, thanks to its DJ sets, and art its characteristic traits in the world. I am very happy to have contributed my work together with 15 other international artists to make this new opening a magical place”.