The location
The restaurant, which overlooks the Piazza di Porta Saragozza in Bologna, is part of the ancient Falansterio complex of the city. Over the years it has hosted various functions, from the bus depot and repair shop to some catering and entertainment venues.
It was divided into an entrance, which in the old Falansterio project was a public portico, a kitchen area with related warehouses located in a raised area and a more recently built room that overlooks the garden and which housed the bar and all the customer services.

The project
The spaces have been completely redesigned. The kitchen, separated by large windows, has been inserted into the large room and is also visible to the public from the garden. The toilets and the warehouse have been moved to the raised rooms served by a stairlift for accessibility. The portico houses the reception and an intimate room characterized by exposed brick with contrasting painted yellow boiserie. The boiserie continues in the other spaces, changing the color to brick red, the same color that completely saturates the walls and fixtures of the anteroom.

The main hall
The room was designed to have a direct relationship with the outside, through fully opening windows. In the spring and summer seasons it is possible to enjoy an open space in close relationship with the external vegetation.
As in the other Berberè brand venues, our fruitful collaboration with the communications agency continues
Comunicattive Agency, with which the colors and furnishings are carefully chosen. All the original neon lights, signs, hangers and the choice of murals were created and designed by them, which in this case, as in other venues of the group, were entrusted to the TO/LET visual artists.

Another element that characterizes the room is the coffered false ceiling in mahogany finish wood, designed and created specifically for the room. The insertion of a perforated sheet metal with a retro aesthetic in the false ceiling mirrors guarantees acoustic and air permeability, allowing the air conditioning systems and panels for acoustic correction to be installed above it, which remain completely hidden, whilst guaranteeing adequate performance.
Along one of the perimeter walls of the room, a long bench, approximately 12 meters long, was designed and created, made of iron tubing and covered with a soft cushion in the same color as the other furnishings.

The kitchen
The kitchen area, as well as the bar and the key operations areas of the group's restaurants, are designed together with the Berberè staff.
The large oven, the center of the kitchen, is in direct contact with both the pizza beating area and the filling area and together they constitute the main preparation environment. No less important is the dough area with the large mixer with diving arms and everything needed for preparation. In this particular case both rooms overlook and are visible from the administration room and the garden, guaranteeing two interesting focuses for the public.

To compartmentalize the kitchen, while still guaranteeing internal visibility, we designed a wooden diaphragm with a mahogany finish, same as the ceiling, with large windows, which also houses the passes for the delivery of appropriately heated pizzas and the shelves for take-away boxes.

The bar
The bar, conceived as a front bar without barriers to the public and entirely visible, accommodates the functions necessary for operations. Coffee area with a beautiful Faema e61 and related grinder-dispenser, small sink, integrated cold room, beer tap area, with retro-style cobras and a space dedicated to a service.
Made with a finish of rounded wooden slats painted in burnished gold, it has a top in Bianco Carrara marble and is surmounted by an iron and glass structure used as a bottle holder, completely backlit by an LED light system.

The entrance, former portico
The entrance to the restaurant takes place through a window designed by us and created ad hoc by talented iron craftsmen.
A parapet created by the same people separates an intimate room from the entrance, seating 10, characterized by a long barrel vault and three majestic brick arches with related pillars. Upon entering, on the right wall, you can still notice the clear signs of the old doors and windows that once overlooked the portico.
The bricks were exposed through deep sandblasting and subsequent fixative treatment. The room is surrounded by wood paneling painted in contrasting yellow.
The third and last arch, before the main room, hosts the reception area with a cash desk designed and made to measure to house all the electronic and management equipment of the venue. A long heated surface has been provided on the back of the cabinet as a support for delivery orders.
The piece of furniture has the same mahogany finish already mentioned for other furnishing elements and recalls the old solid wood artefacts in its structure.

The garden
Designed, in the general layout, paving and vegetation parts by the studio la stanzaC of the landscape architect Caterina Michelini, the external space is divided into three different areas: a central square with related walkways and two spaces intended for seats, one more intimate and rich in furnishings.
The central square, paved with half terracotta bricks, is central to the exit door and hosts a flowerbed planted with an olive tree in the centre. The covered areas are made of Biostrasse, a highly permeable flooring capable of withstanding furniture and foot traffic without creating instability. In these areas, two flowerbeds were created at opposite ends of the garden, raised above the walking surface and covered with iron sheet metal. The most important in size hosts species such as citrus limon "of the four seasons", philadelphus "mock orange", thyme and rosemary, the other more modest in size is planted with salvia officinalis, lavandula offcinalis, Aloysia citrodora "verbena fragrant" and marigold "non-seasonal perennial".
Three wisterias with relative horizontal tie rods were also installed to ensure summer shading and two jasmines were placed inside the pots that climb up the arch at the entrance. Finally, an existing ivy wall was revitalized. An automatic irrigation system was designed to minimize maintenance.
The setup is completed by furnishings with tone on tone colours, Italian style tie rod lighting and perimeter LED tubes to bathe the garden walls in light.