Rizzoli joined such prestigious American institutions as Tiffany’s, Saks, and Cartier when it first opened the Rizzoli Bookstore on Fifth Avenue in 1964. In the following years, its landmark building in New York became the center for the company’s national expansion, adding new bookstores throughout the country and, a decade later, establishing an eminent publishing house renowned today for high-quality, illustrated books. Today, Rizzoli in America is an integral part of its Italian parent company, RCS Media Group. RCS arose from the merger of the venerable Rizzoli publishing house, founded in 1929, with the eminent Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, founded in 1876. Rizzoli New York began its publishing operation in 1974 and has become a leader in the fashion, interior design, culinary, art, architecture, and photography fields. Rizzoli’s Universe imprint was added in 1990 marking Rizzoli’s entrée into the pop-culture worlds of humor, beauty, sports, performing arts, and gay and alternative lifestyles. Universe also produces a highly successful calendar program. In 2008 a new imprint for the house was established called Skira Rizzoli, with the goal of expanding the company’s presence in museum-related publishing, and in 2011, Rizzoli established Ex Libris, an imprint dedicated to publishing up-market literary fiction and nonfiction with a transatlantic character.