Vòce by Aimo e Nadia

Vòce is a versatile, multi-purpose space – gourmet restaurant, cafeteria and bookshop – overlooking the corner between Via Manzoni and Piazza della Scala in Milan, inside Intesa Sanpaolo’s Gallerie d’Italia. After a significant architectural renovation in line with the tendencies of the main Italian and international museums, this space has become a new place for social interaction and sharing in the heart of Milan, capable of feeding the fervid activity of one of the most vital areas of the city. The furnishings by Gebrüder Thonet Vienna are gracefully inserted into the 20^th-century atmospheres of the environments, midway between Viennese coffeehouse and French bistro.
The large space is accessible directly from Piazza Scala and from Via Manzoni. A marble grand corner staircase leads to a long counter, the perspective of which emphasises the monumental nature of the entrance and the adjacent rooms. Behind the counter, made of black marble slabs and pewter, a large shelf displays objects and the products of the cafeteria. On the left you access the restaurant/bistro room that contains a kitchen-laboratory delimited by glass walls framed by a metal structure, through which you can appreciate the masterly composition of flavours and colours: an ideal stage to present the spectacle of culinary culture, an art made of mastery and cultured sensitivity. The room on the right hosts the bookshop, the pivotal point between the museum area and that for social interaction: a hybrid space to read a fine book and relax as you enjoy a good coffee.
In total harmony with the building and the exhibition spaces, all the environments are pervaded by a 20^th-century atmosphere that recalls the splendour of the Milanese middle class of the last century, with spaces that are generous in extension and height, false ceilings decorated with coffering, imposing stone columns and Botticino marble and parquet floors. The lighting is suffused with accents well distributed onto the staircase, the counter and the tables.