Projects
English mood and Italian Style for the “.IT” restaurant
Roberta Valli
CERAMICA MEDITERRANEA
2017
Located close to the Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Fiumicino, the elegant Isola Sacra Rome Airport Hotel is a 4-star establishment offering first-class service, an outdoor swimming pool, a private garden, a conference centre and last but not least the award-winning ??.IT” restaurant.
The restaurant has an extensive wine list featuring wines from vineyards in the Lazio region and beyond. The bottles are stored at exactly the right temperature in refrigerated rooms to preserve their characteristics and are the perfect complement to a cuisine based on the finest Italian tradition while evolving constantly to offer a unique but innovative dining experience. “We blend creativity and tradition” is the chef’s motto.
In architectural terms, the restaurant interprets this motto with a large open-plan space divided up by partitions and white wood-panelled walls with a classic minimalist look. This contrasts on the one hand with bright, colourful wallpaper with an exotic feel and on the other with the warm, reassuring tones and wood-grain texture of the floor and the brick panelling of the fireplace corner occupied by a pair of classic cherry-coloured velvet upholstered armchairs.
The distinctly English mood owes much to the texture and warm tones of Ceramica Mediterranea’s porcelain floor tiles, which create a warm and intimate atmosphere.
The owners of the Isola Sacra Hotel personally chose the tiles for the restaurant and patio, opting for the Water Signs brown collection in a 15×60 cm size due to its potential to create healthy and safe yet welcoming spaces.
In a restaurant, the choice of surface coverings not only has to satisfy purely aesthetic considerations, but given the importance of health, safety and hygiene must above all meet performance requirements.
Aspects such as resistance to slip, staining, scratching and chemicals, bending strength and above all antibacterial properties were all crucial factors in the choice of tiles from Ceramica Mediterranea. Furthermore, porcelain tiles do not release harmful substances into the environment, so they are ideal for use in the hospitality and catering sectors.
The glamorous, metropolitan style of this restaurant finds its perfect match in the design and functional and technological qualities of ceramics.
The floor and wall tiles were specially chosen to convey a sense of warmth and softness. The bright elegance of the white walls and wood panelling is tempered by the faithful wood grain reproduction of the Water Sign brown planks. The warm timber tones with their powerful chiaroscuro effect are the leitmotif running through all the rooms, including the wine cellar and bottling room, and lend a sense of fluidity and harmony to the overall atmosphere.
Ceramica Mediterranea, Water Sign
porcelain stoneware
15,6x60,6 cm
Brown
Water absorpion (ISO 10545-3): ≤ 0,4%
Chemical resistance (ISO 10545-13): compliant
Resistance to deep abrasion (ISO 10545-6): ≤ 175 mm3
Stain resistance (ISO 10545-14): compliant
Frost resistance (ISO 10545-12): compliant
Modulus of rupture and breaking strength (ISO 10545-4): ≥ 40 N/mm2
Slip resistance (DIN 51130): R9
Thermal shock resistance (ISO 10545-9): compliant
Crazing resistance (ISO 10545-11): compliant
Linear thermal expansion (ISO 10545-8): compliant