Inside Rome’s Galleria Alberto Sordi, a jewel of 20th-century Liberty architecture, Vudafieri Saverino Partners has designed the new Stendhal Milano restaurant, an iconic name in traditional Milanese cuisine since the ’80s. Elegant but casual and with a bistro-style atmosphere that changes depending on the time of day, the new restaurant combines retro style with hints of fresh contemporaneity. The project successfully brings both the restaurant’s unique brand of traditional dining and ’80s Milanese style to the heart of Rome. To create a setting that was both elegant and casual, as well as suitable for all-day dining, the architects focused on furnishings, materials, colors, and finishes.
“We recreated the visual codes of Stendhal Milano in the new restaurant,” explains Claudio Saverino and Tiziano Vudafieri, “but with a contemporary Milanese touch, interpreting them through the lens of Rome as a vibrant city of smiling faces in a welcoming space that encourages social interaction.”
This dialogue between Milan and Rome doesn’t only exist inside the restaurant. It’s also present between inside and out through the large windows that not only connect Stendhal Milano to the capital but also to Italy’s political heart. Right from the foyer, the restaurant impresses, with the architects including a striking custom-made bar for the space.Finished in green lacquer, the bar has a marble top with a green tile inlay. Similarly, the back bar is also very distinctive, with an antique mirror and a suspended bottle rack based on Vienna-style woven cane, with brass mesh along the edge. On the wall near the staircase between the two floors of the restaurant, a neon light quotes a passage from Stendhal’s Promenades that pays tribute to Rome.
With some 130 square meters on two levels, Stendhal Milano in Rome is a reflection of its Milanese progenitor. To achieve this, the architects made chromatic references to the original restaurant, beginning with Stendhal Green. The custom-made wallpaper, which uses a green palette, features a pattern of arches and openings based on Rome’s Galleria Alberto Sordi. The materials are all high quality: brass, marble, textured glass, and timber with a customized finish based on a design by architects Saverino and Vudafieri.
In all, the restaurant seats 60 diners at street level and in the main dining room on the mezzanine floor, where the environment is more intimate and there’s an open kitchen. Three seats are provided at a small timber counter with a marble top where diners can eat while watching the chefs at work. Stendahl Roma’s head chef is Edoardo Ferrara.
Location: Rome, Italy
Architects: Vudafieri Saverino Partners
Project Leader: Nicolò Spina
Design Team: Caterina Mancuso, Elisa Zhu
General contractor: AFA arredamenti
Photography by Matteo Lippera and Paolo Valentini, courtesy of Vudafieri Saverino Partners