René Gruau, Designer (1909-2004)

Born in Rimini in 1909, Count Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate, known as René Gruau, moved to Paris in the thirties where he became one of the most famous fashion designers of the twentieth century. The unmistakable lines of his work, expressed in the rich relationship between fashion and publicity, can be seen in the pieces that are permanently on display in an area dedicated to the artist in the city’s Municipal Museum.
On the centenary of his birth, the Municipality of Rimini inaugurated the memorial dedicated to him placing it in the entrance square of the Monumental Cemetery, symmetrically with the funeral monument dedicated to Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina. The work consists of a large white marble floor circle with a mosaic depicting a stylized woman's face, one of the most cherished themes in Gruau. From the marble stands a bronze stele containing, as a central motif, the signature of Gruau, surmounted by his characteristic asterisk.

He died in Rome on March 31st 2004. 
By his own will, the artist's ashes are kept at Rimini Graveyard Memorial Chapel close to Federico Fellini's grave.