Appetite for design
Style icon Rossana Orlandi’s taste for quality is reflected in her new Milan restaurant, bist Ro Aimo e Nadia.
Conventional wisdom dictates that you should never meet your idols, as they inevitably disappoint you. Not true, as anyone fortunate enough to encounter Rossana Orlandi will testify. The grand dame of international design gallerists, Orlandi has been an icon in Milan for more than a decade, with her Gallery Rossana Orlandi a must-see experience for thousands of tourists throughout the year. Her latest venture is bistRo Aimo e Nadia on Milan’s Via Matteo Bandello 14, just around the corner from her gallery. A collaboration with the two-Michelin-starred Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, it brings together what Italy is best known for — food and design. “This restaurant needed to be a point of reference for me,” says Orlandi, “a place I can bring friends or clients. With [Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia’s co-owners] Fabio [Pisani], Alessandro [Negrini] and Stefania [Moroni], we have created a synergy of reciprocal energies.” Orlandi envisioned a space in the spirit of Galleria Rossana Orlandi, where hospitality, comfort and pampering are key. “We’ve managed to create something special,” she says. “The chefs did the outfitting of the technical areas, the kitchen and bar, but for the restaurant’s interior, that was all me and my team — with constant feedback from the chefs, of course, because they are the ones who come to work every day.”
The interior is pure Orlandi. The furniture is wildly eclectic, a mix of periods, materials and styles that brings into focus why Orlandi is so good. There is a harmony in how she mixes the pieces, a synergy. There are some very important items, such as a screen by British ››