The Peter Marino-designed Louis Vuitton Maison that opened in Rome this weekend is a virtual feast for the eyes — the best kind of feast, really, if you’re part of the fashion set.

Having designed London’s Bond Street Maison with an exterior of golden chain mail, the New York-based, leather-clad architect is intimately familiar with the luxurious brand identity consistent throughout the design of LV’s global flagships. In this particularly location, however, he made sure to pay special homage to the site’s heritage: Not only did he carefully restore the neoclassical façade and bas-reliefs, he added a few cinema references, a nod to the space’s original identity as Rome’s very first movie theater, the Etoile, which screened films by the likes of Federico Fellini from its construction in 1907 until it closed in 1991.

The LV maison is, in fact, still a movie theater, with a 19-seat, 3-D screening room on its first floor, and it is scheduled to run short films by legendary Italian auteurs, from Fellini to Lattuada. Visitors shopping on the men's floor can even listen in with the “sound shower” feature, a spot where one can see and hear what's going on in the cinema. Winding in the center of the store is what Marino calls a “calyx”-shaped staircase, a back-lit ribbon not unlike an unraveled roll of film that ascends the shop's three stories. 

True to the sumptuous nature of LV stores, the space is studded with onyx and travertine, and artwork referencing the location — Vik Muniz, who earlier designed special 3-D logos for the brand, is showing his version of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco, “The Creation of Adam.” In a corner, a bag bar (a standard fixture in every LV maison) showcases Sofia Coppola-designed bags, while the floor features designer furniture, including '50s-era scissor chairs by Pierre Jeanneret and Marino’s desks that look like trunks and tables made of python skin.