The paintings in the Sala dei Pittori of the Rigolo Restaurant are a testimony of the recognition and friendship of the artists who, since the 1950s, have given life to the artistic district of Brera, the “pebbly island”.
Brera - whose name derives from braida: uncultivated land, vegetable garden - until thirty years ago it was a popular area. The artists who since the nineteenth century gravitated around the Academy of Fine Arts have transformed the neighborhood into one of the most characteristic of Milan.
The artists had no money and settled the bar bill by giving away their works. Sivaldo Simoncini preferred to advance them the money to be able to buy the canvases and colors and, only afterwards, did he choose to buy one of their works under which the artists sat to delight their palate with the earnings of the paintings sold. These were also the times when the young students who attended the Brera Academy, rather broke, spent their evenings painting in a corner of the Rigolo and then offered their paintings to customers who sat down to eat at the tables.
Times have changed but the relationship between the Brera artists and Rigolo has remained unchanged: it still happens today that a foreigner visiting the city for work or tourism falls in love with one of the paintings and asks for the possibility of buying it. You know, there are loves that cannot end, so it happens that they are satisfied with returning with a photograph taken of their favorite painting. It also happens that it is the artist who donates a work, outside of any marketing logic or sales objective, for the "only" pleasure of finding and finding himself at his favorite table.
Each of these works contains an emotion, a personal story, an anecdote, a moment of solitude or sharing experienced at Rigolo. There is Piazza Duomo with trees drawn on a tablecloth by Renzo Piano during a lunch with some journalists from Corriere della Sera (the waiter ran worried by Renato Simoncini saying: "You stop them, at that table they write on the tablecloth!") Or the pasta canned by the baritone Giuseppe Zecchillo who wanted to paraphrase the "Artist's Me rda" by Piero Manzoni who esteemed so much to the point of even wanting to rent the former studio inside the Palazzo dei Conti Panza di Biumo at Via Fiori Chiari.
In this room, you can savor the art of Enrico Bay, Giancarlo Cazzaniga, Antonio Recalcati, Agostino Ferrari, Lalla Romano, Steven Scott, Giò Ponti, Kenjirò Azuma, Salvatore Fiume, Fausto Maria Liberatore, Gianluigi Colin, Kodra, Giuseppe Lizzini, Adolfo Saporetti, Guido Peruz, Arturo Vermi, Jaime Hayon.
Seats: from 35 to 45
For more information on the room or to book, contact us at info@rigolo.it
Some of the paintings in the room
