step inside caffe nazionale, AMAA's renovation of a northern italian palazzo

"Caffè Nazionale in Arzignano, Italy, is a restoration and interior project by locally-based firm AMAA. Set beneath the nineteenth-century City Hall colonnade, the café occupies a position where civic space and daily life overlap. From the portico, visitors pass directly into the main hall, with the rhythmic arcade continuing inside. Views extend through the depth of the plan toward a small, tree-filled interior courtyard."

"The entrance occupies the center of the colonnaded wing designed by Antonio Caregaro Negrin. Facing the square, the door stands out for its material presence. Burnished iron panels pivot on a central axis and carry a diamond pattern on both sides. A handle carved from green serpentine marble from Valmalenco, designed by artist Nero/Alessandro Neretti, brings a tactile detail at hand level."

"Throughout the main room of its renovated Caffè Nazionale, the architects at AMAA gather traces from multiple phases of occupation. Surfaces vary in tone and texture, with older finishes meeting newer insertions without concealment. A folded and perforated stainless steel wall stretches across part of the space, set slightly apart from the existing envelope. Its surface acts as a veil to offer partial views toward the arches facing the courtyard."

Caffè Nazionale sits beneath a nineteenth-century City Hall colonnade in Arzignano, where civic space and daily life overlap. The entrance is centered in the colonnaded wing with burnished iron pivot doors and a green serpentine marble handle by Nero/Alessandro Neretti. An open kitchen occupies the corner at the colonnade's start, visible from arrival and seating, while a stair between kitchen and bar rises to an upper dining room. The main room layers old and new surfaces without concealment, including a folded perforated stainless-steel veil that frames views of the courtyard. Illuminated Stefan Marx posters appear through perforations above a polychrome mosaic floor.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine