The Berberè Pizzeria has been completely renovated to enhance its original layout, especially the high vaulted ceilings. Rather than hiding the kitchen and oven, we have brought them into plain view. The heavy layers of plaster have been stripped away to bring out the original rough brick, making the environment warmer, displaying the traces of the building’s past. The boiserie in pop colors is one of the elements that characterizes Berberè Pizzeria: a bright yellow band sweeps across the original brick, unifying the various parts of the space; at the bar, boards painted the same color grant it materiality. The dark wooden counters, white marble countertop, strip of floor evoking twentieth-century cement tiles and kitchen’s white wall tiles evoke an ages-old atmosphere. The wall painting to the right of the entrance, a distinguishing element of all Berberè locations, rounds out the site-specific customization of the environment. This piece by visual artist Percy Bertolini portrays a child in a 1920s bathing suit, thus dialoguing with the graphic posters decorating the walls that engage with and rework historical images from bygone years when Milan locals still went swimming in the Navigli canals.

Wall painting: Percy Bertolini.