Al Leon d'oro - Riabizandpartners.com

Al Leon d’oro

Romans d’Isonzo, Italy

The building, clearly of 18th-century origin, is based on the crozzola layout, a design much appreciated in Venetian tradition: a long central hall that widens into a cross-shaped space with two symmetrical side rooms.
The original spatial organization remains perfectly legible, as the interventions carried out over time have been mainly structural in nature, including the doubling of the central pillars and the reinforcement of the wooden floors with the addition of metal joists.
The design logic aims to make this stratification as clear as possible. As a direct consequence, the new elements introduced for use as a bar-restaurant do not seek to disguise themselves, but instead to clearly express their belonging to a different phase.
This is pursued not so much through the use of materials — which will remain traditional — but rather through the application of a perfectly orthogonal geometric grid, intended to highlight the complex irregularity of the historic building.

The choice of materials follows the same logic, making use of natural finishes that enhance the building’s long history. A long strip of white Asiago marble emphasizes the central axis of the entire complex and connects the outdoor and indoor areas.
The flooring in the bar and restaurant area features the soft texture of a brick-colored resin, evoking the look of traditional cocciopesto — a material well suited to the ground floor of an 18th-century manor house.
The walls follow this approach with a textured lime-based plaster finish, rich in chiaroscuro and warm shades of dusty pink.
The metal inserts added in more recent times—beams and other structural reinforcement elements—will be painted in a contrasting dark gray to clearly express the building’s stratigraphic evolution.
The bathroom walls will be covered with wallpaper evoking the 18th-century grandeur of the building, with illusions of moldings and tapestries