Entering through a Verde Antico marble entryway, you step into a soaring, double-height space swathed in a warm, earthy palette of muted greens, browns and stone greys. Pronounced vertical elements such as pillars and alcoves, along with low-lying furnishings, emphasize the venue’s monumentality. Sinuous banquette seating upholstered in a fluted pattern, alcove-embedded booths and a well-proportioned stone bar make the most of the layout, offering both intimate and group settings. “As with many of our projects”, the Studio’s principal Paolo Ferrari says, “the idea was to let guests activate the space”.

A sense of timelessness, based on the aesthetics of mid-century modernism, underpins the Studio’s approach. “We wanted the Long Bar to express a quality of longevity, to feel as though it’s always been around”, Ferrari explains. Conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art, everything from the furniture and lighting to the hardware and finishings has been custom-designed and exquisitely crafted in collaboration with a group of master artisans.

The scheme celebrates age-old craft traditions and the sculptural treatment of materials, with features such as arches and curvilinear volumes carved out of travertine stone, concave alcoves clad in fluted leather panels with bronze inlays, and a coffered canopy cast in plaster as a grid of bevelled beams. The organic form of the slender Paonazzo stone bar counter adds to the design’s restrained volumetric complexity, as does the adjacent high-gloss, piano-lacquered wood cabinet. “The jewel in The Long Bar’s crown”, the voluptuous, 2.7-metre-tall cabinet nods to Art Deco and 1950s amoebic modernism with its softened geometry, sumptuous materials and mirrored interiors. “The bar cabinet epitomizes the very classic, great room bar setting I’ve come to love and wanted The Long Bar to emulate”, Ferrari points out. Mid-Century inspired light pendants and sconces and herringbone parquet flooring tie everything together, further enhancing the space’s timeless appeal.

Stepping out onto the venue’s spacious terrace, curved cream-hued banquette seating stretching out in front of lush greenery, white marble table tops and black and white floor tiling lean on to the project’s early 20th century elegance without distracting from the panoramic city views.