‘Ammare’! Let’s go to the seaside!

The only traces left today of Bagno Sirena, a historic bathing establishment built on the beach of Castiglione della Pescaia in the 1920s, are to be found in vintage photographs and postcards. One of the first and most successful examples of beach tourism in the Tuscan town, it was a popular tourist attraction renowned for its beautiful sea view terrace until it was destroyed by a violent sea storm in 1936. Although the architectural structure itself was never rebuilt, the bathing establishment still exists today. Occupying the same location on the splendid western sandy beach, not far from the harbour pier, it offers the same view of one of the cleanest stretches of sea in Tuscany (in 2019 Lega Ambiente awarded Castiglione della Pescaia its highest “5 sails” score for both the cleanliness of the water and the environmental quality of the entire municipal area).
It is also the location of a new vintage style restaurant called ‘Ammare’ created as part of a meticulous restyling project carried out by Milanese architect Andrea Langhi. Starting out from the name itself (which literally means “To the sea”), the project clearly states its intention to reaffirm the positive relationship with the sea that determined the success of the historic bathing establishment. Created from the renovation of an existing structure, the restaurant extends parallel to the beach with a long and narrow, almost jetty-like layout, exploiting its raised position and completely glazed facade to offer splendid sea views. “We wanted to create a place that would have all the ingredients of a perfect holiday, namely excellent food, a fresh, youthful environment, and the sea as a backdrop,” explains Andrea Langhi, who “specialises in the design of public premises”, as he himself refers to his twenty years of experience working in the field of contract design and hospitality.
The restaurant draws inspiration from the sea in all its forms and colours, as reflected in the choice of ceramic tiles which evoke the sparkling waves and the reflections of the sun on the sand. Produced by Cerasarda, the chosen collection comes in an exclusive palette of colours and glazes with a powerful Mediterranean feel. The colours Ghiaccio, Gesso, Menta and Pavone alternate on the floors and walls, in some cases with solid backgrounds and in others with a refined crackle effect, visually highlighting the various functional areas of the restaurant and emphasising the fixed furnishings such as the countertops, decking and seat walls. But in this particular context, ceramic tiles were also chosen for their technical qualities, particularly their wear resistance, hygiene and ease of cleaning.
The interior design project contributes to the fresh, youthful image of the restaurant with outdoor-style furnishings. The metal tube and woven seated plastic chairs display an attractive white-turquoise colour contrast that is echoed on the surface of the laminate tables. The same colour combination is used for the beaded curtains that screen the service areas, while the ordered rows of pendant lamps suspended from the ceiling are reminiscent of the large straw hats that dotted the beach in the 1930s. The wooden door and window frames and shelves are dominated by the turquoise colour reprised in the restaurant’s logo, which floats like a sail on the stylised waves of the placemats.