Sant Ambroeus Conjures Timeless Milanese Style in a 19th-Century Aspen Landmark
For the restaurant’s debut in the Rocky Mountains enclave, designer Giampiero Tagliaferri reimagines a 19th-century landmark with a toothsome recipe of alpine brutalism, exquisite craftsmanship, and Italian culinary traditions
Aspen’s downtown core often feels like an alluring peek inside the past, where Victorian mansions from the silver-mining era commingle with luxury boutiques and chalet-style facades. Among them, a brick-and-stucco landmark dating to the late 19th century is now serving up a distinctly Milanese sense of hospitality. Sant Ambroeus, the storied Italian restaurant group whose legendary 1936 pasticceria has jumpstarted a fervor for breezy Northern Italian elegance among urbanites enamored with their expertly brewed coffee and classic cuisine, is cementing its presence in the Rocky Mountain resort town with a stylish new restaurant, bar, and courtyard dining area conceived by Giampiero Tagliaferri.
The designer’s brief centered on marrying two potent identities—the ruggedness of mountain architecture and the cultivated ease of Milanese interiors—across the restaurant’s tripartite layout. “My reference point became Alpine Brutalism,” he says, “a language that allowed me to draw on the raw, elemental codes of mountain architecture without slipping into banality.” He tapped into the narrative-driven panache that defines his handsome portfolio of private clubs and cosmopolitan residences on both sides of the Atlantic, in which he layers fine craftsmanship and collectible furnishings into sumptuous interiors that convey both formality and familiarity. [...]
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