Roscioli Cantina
The Roscioli cellar is located in the city centre of Rome. It is the second built project of a trilogy of works for the Roscioli family – internationally well known for their bakery and restaurant in Rome.
It is an underground space defined by two vaulted chambers with a corridor that leads to two secondary cells. The thick existing wall structure did not allow for any changes, hence, the only walled intervention done was to reduce the size of the opening between the two vaulted rooms in order to reinforce their spatial autonomy. The action of separating the two chambers produced an illusion of depth: the sequence of spaces is now read as a series of rooms in enfilade where the corridor is perceived as a third room. Only two materials are used: a humid control plaster and steel plates. On the existing walls and vaults the plaster is laid with different finishing textures and then shaded with a layer of colour. The colour recalls that of the Tufa (limestone), a stone present in the Lazio region and commonly used in the past in the underground structure in Rome. The steel plates are used for the floor, the wine display structures and the corridor cladding. Artificial lights, concealed and placed strategically, enhance the depth in the sequence of spaces and dramatize the feeling of descent into the ground.
