In an old building in the heart of the city centre there has always been a space dedicated to meeting people and having good drinks, but abandoned for quite some time.

Ampelio Zecchini and Enrico Squassina have decided to give it a new life.

To realize this, the approach of the two partners has been concrete, professional and methodical from the beginning. Nothing has been left to chance.

And even before looking for the special ingredients that characterised their cocktails and their cuisine they have understood that their home, the home of their custumers had to be something special.

Reason why, and I am so proud of that, their believed in us in the Pistacchio&Caffè staff.

The first requests were precise but went in different ways: a place where you can feel at home, personal, unconventional, a world that could be inspired by the continuous journey of the man, a physical and mental journey, a world of classy elegance but that didn’t inhibit the entrance and the rest, animals, comic-books and illustration, the theatre and  its way of staging life.

We had arguments, but how combine them without creating chaos and incoherence?

Starting from a fixed point as usual and spinning around other ideas: this is my method.

We started from the concept of the counter where the bartenders had to concentrate all their essence and  presence, getting inspiration from the TEATRO GRANDE, at the back of the bar itself.

I imagined them as marionettes and actors on the stage, a small theatre made with dressing room lights above their heads, wood cut as curtains and wallpaper as fabrics, gold and crimson fringes as tradition.

All framed with velvet and dark colours, a deep petrol colour to obtain an environment muffled and soft where you can stop at the counter, heavy and elegant with a brushed oak surface.

A counter enriched with fancy bottles, retro glasses and abat-jour that remind the bar’s logo.

Going upstairs, between ex voto and miniatures, we find an eccentric and visionary wallpaper, dark background and multicolored parrots in sheet metal that creates a unique effect.

The dream, the oniric memento, the imaginary.

And then, the little room at the first floor, colours of the sand, and the turquoise of the mexican sea, the journey, the ships, the maps and the exotic details.

I wanted striped tables, red and white, a bow to the visionary world of Moschino, made of show and colour, carillon and black & white that we find in the renewal of the bathrooms.

The latter, emphasised with glazing products and vintage furnishing, mediterranean tiles and prints on the walls.

So, a project that we lived since the first day, conceived, organised and given birth to as a real creature that now will grow thanks to its owners and will welcome people hungry to admire delicious details.

A familiar place but eclectic, for everyone who will want to drink the best recipes and join some talks with the protagonists of this story, the owners of RISERVA DEL GRANDE, Ampelio and Enrico.

TOTAL CONCEPT: Francesca Vizzari

PHOTO: Mattia Aquila