Premium lager brand, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, in partnership with brand experience agency Seen Presents, has today launched, Il Fresco di Peroni, an Italian Renaissance-inspired installation in the heart of Covent Garden.
The experience was created in collaboration between Seen Presents, McCann London and JOY! Collective.
Blending classical art with modern Italian style, the 3D mural has arrived within the Piazza to depict “The Creation of Aperitivo”, paying homage to Italy’s cherished early-evening ritual.
Its arrival comes as recent OpenTable research highlights a growing cultural shift in the UK towards early-evening socialising, with more consumers embracing aperitivo-style occasions.
The painting was created by a group of multimedia artists, ‘JOY! Collective’, and transforms Renaissance art into an immersive experience – part artwork, part optical illusion, part bar.
To bring the mural to life, JOY! Collective combined creative vision and meticulous technical precision – from photographing models to achieve accurate depth perception to recomposing media elements to execute an anamorphic scale.
Taking over 520 hours to paint, the studio brought together 13 independent artists who used traditional Renaissance techniques to produce a final piece that appears as though it’s been crafted by a single hand.
Il Fresco di Peroni celebrates a new creative campaign, ONLY Peroni, which places Peroni Nastro Azzurro shoulder to shoulder with legendary cultural symbols such as the Trevi Fountain, The Birth of Venus, and Scuderia Ferrari, transporting guests into a world of Italian elegance and artistry seen through a modern lens.
Anja Gottschalk, brand director for Peroni Nastro Azzurro said: “We’re thrilled to launch this special experience for Londoners and visitors to the Covent Garden Piazza, seeking a mix of culture and great beer. Il Fresco di Peroni celebrates iconic symbols of Italian style, in a way that only Peroni can do. Bringing the beauty of a Roman fresco to London over a bank holiday offers visitors a truly special drinking occasion and something unique to marvel at. It was our first time collaborating with Seen Presents and they’ve played a vital role in bringing the vision to life physically — uniting our in-house teams, talent and inter-agency partners to create something truly impactful.”
This weekend, visitors will be invited to enter the fresco through three grand archways, take a seat at the table within the mural, and be placed within the illusion, creating a striking and playful backdrop for photos.
To add to the theatre, two illustrated ‘beer-bearers’ will pour guests the complimentary half pint of Peroni Nastro Azzurro, straight from the painting.
After the fresco, guests can enjoy their Peroni in a landscaped garden, where a custom sundial marks aperitivo hour in cities across the world, from Rome to New York.
Anna Gonzalez, account director at Seen Presents added: “This was one of those briefs you’re instantly excited by ambitious, complex, and full of creative potential. We had to take something inherently static, a 2D fresco rooted in Italian heritage, and turn it into a living, breathing experience that would live as powerfully online as it did in person. From capturing the brand’s authentic soul to the precision needed to design and deliver an outdoor installation at this scale, it was about bringing a lot of moving parts into perfect alignment all while making sure thousands of Londoners could enjoy a perfectly chilled Peroni at the end of it.”
The installation will be open (for those over 18) for three days from Thursday 30 Saturday 2 May from 12pm through to 8pm each day