Basilicata Trattoria Restaurant

Basilicata Trattoria was designed by Superlimão Studio to be a cozy, bright, laid-back eatery in São Paulo’s traditional Italian district.

  • area / size 2,690 sqft
  • Year 2021
  • Location São Paulo, Brazil,
  • Type Restaurant,
  • Open since 1914 in Bexiga and following an expansion project in 2017, in the same property of the first Empório, Basilicata now opens a brand new spot, Basilicata Trattoria, in the Jardins district. A new restaurant built around the heritage of Empório Basilicata, led by chef Rafael Laurenti, but now with more contemporary traces in a modern and laid-back atmosphere. The idea was to make the environment cozier and brighter, with soft and colorful tones. Most of the original elements of the previous restaurant in the property were reused and reinvented.

    The natural wood floors were restored and the honeycomb metallic plate ceiling lining was reused, with a brand new color, and the brown metal plate covering most of the dining room was painted and sanded, giving a brand new texture to the same material. The large door frames were kept and repainted. The challenge was to ensure the ideal seating capacity without losing comfort, considering the kitchen’s headway into the dinning room.

    To reduce construction waste, the old bottles decorating the entire perimeter of the dining room were transformed into large recycled glass pieces in the central countertop and other major design elements, such as the pan rack and the front door. A fusion technique was used in the bottles to create a single piece of glass with the same green tone of the old bottles.

    A large five-meter countertop was built between the two pillars in the middle of the dining room to optimize space distribution and increase the number of seats. In addition to the recycled glass countertop, this piece really stands out for its metalwork structure, designed to cover the total span without any floor support.

    As a solution, besides reusing existing materials, the previous restaurant’s furniture were all restored, as well as the china cabinet.

    Existing lighting fixtures were reused in the dining room and new lighting spots were created with natural basketry pendants, with LED plates installed at the top, providing both direct and indirect lighting options.

    Design: Superlimão Studio
    Design Team: Thiago Rodrigues, Lula Gouveia, Antonio Carlos Figueira de Mello, Inaiá Botura e Pâmela Paffrath.
    Photography: Israel Gollino