GrizForm Design Architects has completed the design of Barbatella, Naples, Florida. The casual dining restaurant was completed in January 2012 with a budget of $1 million. Barbatella is the second collaboration between Chef Fabrizio Aielli and GrizForm Design Architects after the success of SeaSalt.
Griz Dwight, the designer on the project, along with Chef Fabrizio Aielli faced some design and layout challenges with the space. The restaurant’s two buildings, which are separated by a courtyard, had to have their own standout characteristics while still maintaining design cohesiveness. The resturant also had to be suitable for the range of different dining times and styles that Chef Aielli wanted to provide his customer and so the two very distinct and separate spaces were created for different functions and purpose but which maintained that signature Barbatella dining experience.
The dual personality of the restaurant draws on Chef Aielli’s Italian heritage, with the sense of the two buildings being two Italian sisters who have lived very apart and are now joined once more – the same heritage but different lives lived.
The bar side of the restaurant is decked in luxurious emerald plaster medallions that cover the ceilings and walls on the bar side. Custom made booths fitted in mustard fabric add an element of femininity and flamboyance. In the dining space there is a more rustic feel with the idea that you are celebrating Barbatella’s Italian roots. Brick floors, wood tables, terrazzo counters and copper finishes exude the warmth and roughness of the Italian countryside.
Photography: Amber Frederiksen
