Carlo in Portofino
Laura Sartori Rimini and Roberto Peregalli reinvent the legendary restaurant of kings and Hollywood stars
Laura Sartori Rimini and Roberto Peregalli are good at listening to echoes. At the new restaurant of chef Carlo Cracco – Cracco Portofino – those echoes are the memories of a magical setting once invaded by the international jet set. When the two designers, creators of the Cracco restaurant in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, first came to see the site in Portofino it was empty, like an abandoned ship. But its charm was still intact, with the extraordinary Liguria landscape that immediately became a source of inspiration. «The idea was to take the drama out of the concept of a prize-winning restaurant, to open it up to nature while offering shelter», says Laura Sartori Rimini. A cabane, where every element has a space of its own. Air becomes the sequence of two terraces and a pergola in the sun, suggesting the shade of reeds and screens – the stripes of shadow are decorations “in motion” across the day. Rock absorbs the mysterious bar counter, while the sea unites interior and exterior in a wave of light. Actually, the sea is doubled; it is the water that rocks the boats, seen through a spectacular full-height window, and it is the very long blue and ivory mirror that alternates with wallcoverings in painted woven straw. «For the design of the mirror», says Roberto Peregalli, «we took our cue from the frescos of a long lost café from the 1930s».
Erudite references of West and East can be seen in the chairs, the faux bamboo tables, all custom designed, and the motifs of the plates, made for the occasion by Ginori 1735. Chairs and tables suggest France, a Parisian café. The reeds of the roof in the dining room form screens made by craftsmen on a remote island in Japan. Other times, other rhythms, also because the ship bringing this masterpiece was blocked by the sudden closure of the Suez Canal. But at Studio Peregalli, they know that patience is the best way to create a peaceful setting, with all the semblance of a dream.