In 1933, Alpago Novello described it like this: “Delightful engraved scenes—hot air balloons, little boats, dancing—accompanying a moment of leisure, of lightness, with a glass in hand.”
This is the brief story of a discovery—one of those that now live only in the memories of seasoned dealers, on the square long enough to recall a time when finds like this were far more common.
A grand hotel, closed for many years in the very heart of Milan—already an unusual circumstance in itself—still entirely furnished from its last “restyling” in the 1990s. The place now looks more like a state-subsidized spa guesthouse than the grand hotel it once was, its former splendor still visible in the rationalist architecture (perhaps also by Cassi) facing its cousin by Portaluppi just across the square.
There’s no electricity. It’s nearly dark, it’s hot, and nothing really catches our attention—until, behind a stack of chairs, a reflection appears. There it is! Moved who knows how many times (the bar was originally located in a neighboring building), the supporting frame tells us it has been in that room since at least the 1970s. The only surviving trace of an opulent setting that, even through vintage photographs, evokes the image of an Italian—and specifically Milanese—street shaped by the unmistakable neo-classical Art Deco of Buffa and Cassi.
