The Roscioli cellar is located in the city centre of Rome. It is the second built project for the Roscioli family – internationally well known for their bakery and restaurant.

The Cantina is an underground space defined by two vaulted chambers and a corridor that leads to two secondary cells. As the thick existing wall structure did not allow for any changes, the only walled intervention was to reduce the size of the opening between the two vaulted rooms, thus reinforcing their spatial autonomy. The action of separating the two chambers produced an illusion of depth; the sequence of spaces now read as an enfilade where the corridor is perceived as a third room.

Only two materials are used: a humidity controlling plaster and steel plates. On the existing walls and vaults the plaster is laid with different finishing textures and then pigmented with a natural oxide. The colour recalls that of the tufa (limestone), a stone present in the Lazio region and historically used in the underground structures of Rome. The steel plates are used for the floor, wine display structures and corridor cladding. Artificial lighting is used sparingly to enhance the depth in the sequence of spaces and dramatize the feeling of descent into the ground.

This isolated underground world embraces the visitors in a silent ambience far from the frenetic centre of the city for the taste of a different time.