The first survey of the Visionary Places Award recently concluded Artribune collaborate with Gambero Rosso to identify the most visionary restaurants in Italy, on the border between gastronomy and art. A research supported by museum catering that is finally in step (not always, not with widespread distribution) with what the international scene has been offering for years in terms of visitor services, in the main museums of the world. It is no coincidence that the winner of the first edition of the competition was Luminista reality born in Gallerie d’Italia in Naples in the context of a convincing strategy adopted on a national scale by the museum center of the Intesa Sanpaolo group to provide itself with a gastronomic proposal that is worthy of the cultural offering.
Not an isolated case, as shown by the map drawn up just over a year ago to survey the different museum catering realities in Italy.
Restaurants at the museum in Rome. Now there is also Palazzo Barberini
A census to be updated in light of the latest news. In Rome, which still suffers from a certain lack of vision in this regard – and therefore suffers from a subordinate role compared to the offer of cities such as Milan and Turin, as well as Florence, where updates are awaited on the project which should provide the Uffizi with a catering –, Barberini Palace announces the opening of the café restaurant Barberini greenhouses.Until now, to confirm what has just been written, the museum, part of the Capitoline complex of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, had remained without even a simple spot for visitors looking for a bit of refreshment. The inauguration of the café restaurant inside the nineteenth-century greenhouse in the gardens of the palace is therefore hailed as an achievement and an opportunity to also attract the citizens, who are not too numerous to visit one of the most fascinating museums in the Capitoline panorama, due to the prestige of the collection and the artistic richness of the container.“We are finally equipping the museum with a service that was previously absent and offering its visitors, but also the citizens, the neighborhood and tourists, a stopping and meeting point in one of the most extraordinary places in Rome, a secret Italian garden that we hope from now on it will be increasingly known, admired and experienced by the general public“, explains Thomas Clement Solomondirector of the National Galleries of Ancient Art.
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The space and offer of Serre Barberini in Rome
The greenhouse, presumably designed by the architect Francesco Azzurri and completed at the end of the 19th century, was the subject of a long restoration and refunctionalization project. Typically made of steel and glass, enlivened by cast iron columns, it has a fountain in the centre; and its ability to store light will be exploited through a system of photovoltaic panels, in the name of energy sustainability. Inside, the furnishings are inspired by late nineteenth-century cafés in “floral” style, outside is the seventeenth-century garden built by the nephews of Urban VIII, Cardinal Francesco and Cardinal Antonio, in the arrangement dating back to the period between the nineteenth and 20th century. The catering offer has been entrusted to management Panda Catering, which will offer coffee shop, brunch, aperitif and lunch service. We will see if, beyond the usual slogans – valorization of the Italian and regional food and wine heritage, internationality, seasonality – it will be able to structure a valid offer. Leads from via XX Settembre 2 and from via Quattro Fontane 13, even without paying the entrance ticket to the museum.
“Peace ‘n’ Spice” at the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice
Of a more curious nature is the new gastronomic proposal of the Querini Stampalia Foundation to Venice, where the newbornPeace ‘n’ Spice it is the latest incarnation of the café of one of the most active cultural centers in the Lagoon. The new refreshment point of the Foundation (fresh from the appointment of the new director Cristiana Collu) offers international cuisine with a Middle Eastern and North African flavour, with forays into Afghanistan. And the reason is easy to say: they are there to guide it Hadi Noori And Ali Khan Qalandari, Afghan entrepreneurs inspired by the consolidated experiences of African Experience and Orient Experience, formats born several years ago in the city on the initiative of Hamed Amadi. In 2020, both left the project to open a similar one (Peace ‘n’ Spice, precisely) in Padua. And this is the idea that they are now bringing back to Venice. You can also enter without paying the ticket, but only during the opening hours of the Foundation (therefore not at dinner); and you sit inside, in Mario Botta’s spaces (on the walls, since 2017, contemporary tapestries by Maria Morganti), or in the garden designed by Carlo Scarpa. The food is chosen from the counter, to compose the dish to be brought to the table, including hummus and meat rolls, vegetable fritters and ravioli filled with minced meat served with yogurt and a yellow lentil sauce (the mantu Afghans). And cicchetti to match, including pakora, falafel and borek with feta. You drink wine, beer, cocktails based on spices, and the prices are reasonable.
Livia Montagnoli
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