It’s not often a place upends your understanding of what a restaurant can or should be. Di Stasio Città is just that, a dining experience that indulges all the senses.

In Melbourne, Rinaldo Di Stasio’s name is synonymous with fine Italian dining. Città reflects this impeccable DNA alongside his reputation as one of the city’s leading art patrons. Città also creates something with a personality of its own.

Città has no sign or building number, reflecting this individual style and play on showmanship. Instead, tinted glass doors flood the entrance with a welcoming red glow. A hidden button opens the doors, and an impressive narrowing vestibule leads to the dining room adding to the overall sense of theatre and excitement.

The venue features work by seminal Australian artists, including striking projections of Shaun Gladwell’s The Lacrima Chair and Reko Rennie’s OA_RR on Città’s hand-plastered, stucco walls, which give the space a stunning textured and tactile feel. Rennie’s billboard-sized public artwork, Visible Invisible, is also on display to the footpath.

During the design process and before full construction began on site, a mockup slab-sided entrance and bar were built in plywood at full size, so the design team could experience the impact of the concept. This painstaking process ensured every detail was executed with excellence. It also needed to fall in line with the client’s singular vision for Città – a restaurant that looks and feels like no other.

Città’s brutalist design feels fresh, genuinely creative and highly appropriate in terms of the theatricality of the dining experience.

Feature finishes include a hand mixed and site poured black terrazzo slab with brass inlays alongside an impressive 8.5m long marble bar. The shop front concrete looks certainly adds a point of drama, particularly alongside the polished plastered walls and bar front. The 5.5m high raked ceiling with custom perforated plasterboard compliments the floor-to-ceiling marble cladding and custom-made hand basins in all bathrooms.

All-day running moving art using short throw theatre grade projectors with art gallery grade lighting and vintage European chandeliers complete the look and feel of this eye-catching space.

This Project was proudly awarded National Awards, including:

·    The 2022 Interior Fitout Awards (IFA) - Hospitality

·         The 2020 Australian Interior Design Awards (AIDA) - Premier Award

·         The 2020 Australian Interior Design Awards (AIDA) - Hospitality

·         Eat Drink Design Award - Best Restaurant Design