50 years of Leopoldo Pomais' oasis of sophistication and “rogue”.

BarcelonaPhotographer Leopoldo Pomis (1931-2019) He was considered a hedonist. He is also a caring man and a lover of simple, sophisticated and sensual beauty at the same time. In his career, the line between Pomis photographer and gastronomy was very blurred: the ability to surprise with his photographs and advertising spots is also present in the two exceptional restaurants he created in the 1970s, both created by a duo of architects by Federico Correa (1924-2020) and Alfonso Milla (1924-2009): Flash-Flash trout shop and Il Giardinetto restaurant and cocktail barThe latter is an Italian pioneer in Barcelona. They are both located on the same Granada del Penedès street, almost opposite each other. Il Giardinetto opened its doors fifty years ago and remains one of the city's most welcoming restaurants, filled to the ceiling with painted plants that look like something out of a fairytale and mirrors that give it a tropical touch.

It also maintains itself as a place with an atmosphere conducive to surprises: her partner proposed to director Rosa Vergés during a dinner at Il Giardinetto. However, director Poldo Bomis – who took over from his father in 2009, alongside his siblings Juliette and Ivan – likes to say that the restaurant also has a point. villain. “Maintaining a restaurant is a source of pride and also a responsibility,” says Poldo Bomis. “When a problem arises, you never think of getting rid of it, there is an additional responsibility.”

Leopoldo Pomis and Alfonso Milla were friends before they began as partners in the two restaurants, although Milla later ceased to be from Il Giardinetto. He was also a friend of Federico Correa, and this feeling of friendship has extended to the point that even today the restaurant is a meeting point of Barcelona's cultural world, the scene of many cultural events and fashion editorials. “We are very open to doing other things, almost for no profit. It's none of our business, we're doing it to promote the restaurant. I think the restaurant is also part of the cultural world of the city, and that's also something we should be proud of.” ” explains Poldo Bomis. To celebrate the anniversary, they will serve a new cocktail designed by Javier de las Muelas and will hold a jazz session to honor local pianist Pere Ferrer for thirty years.

In gastronomic terms, Il Giardinetto is the result of Pomais's “passion” for Italian cuisine and pasta passed on to him by Maria Levy, the mother of the architect Ricard Bovell. “In Barcelona, ​​at that time, Italian restaurants left a lot to be desired and, personally, did not give me any particular pleasure. […] Everything changed when Maria Levy, the mother of the architect Ricard Bofill, invited me to lunch at her house. Moved by my enthusiasm, when concluding a painting Double buttered fettuccine She personally cooked for me, so I got up from my chair, knelt down, and kissed her hands again and again. “After two months I offered him to run a restaurant, and that's how Il Giardinetto was born,” Pomis himself explained. Maria Levy did not run it, but she advised them. Among the specialties are classics such as: Spaghetti Sophia LorenBalghar; the panzerotti Stuffed with mushrooms, and new additions such as Tribulin Sicilian style with sardines and fennel.

A place exceptionally awarded two FAD Awards

Not only does Il Giardinetto celebrate the 50th anniversary of its opening, but this year also marks the centenary of the births of Federico Correa and Alfonso Milla, known for emblematic works such as the Anella Olímpica, headquarters of the Barcelona Provincial Council, the reformed Plaza Real and the Atalaya Building. So Il Giardinetto has become a legacy in the best way to have a good future in the future: in fully operational condition. “My father and Alfonso Milla were close to each other,” Boldo Bomis confirms. Another notable fact about this restaurant is that it has won the FAD Award for Interior Design on two occasions: in 1974, for its “welcoming and calm” atmosphere, as the jury said at the time, and in 2013 for the reform carried out in the term by Max Llamazares and Ivan Pomés, which consists of opening up the ground floor façade and incorporating a new bar at street level. The FAD jury described the work as “delicate and meticulous”. “Not only does the intervention not distort it, it reinforces what was there and completes what might have been missing, which is now manifested by a coherent and elegant formal result, and a correct interpretation of the new needs,” the minutes said. “Many architectural friends from different generations told us not to touch Il Giardinetto, because we were crazy. Then everyone congratulated us, and Federico was happy too,” recalls Poldo Pomis.

Two different restaurants in the era of “popular art”

Leopoldo Pomis was a prominent client of Correa and Mella. Before Flash-Flash and Il Giardineto, he commissioned them to have their own home in the former workshop of the painter Modest Urgell. Pomis was fascinated by the degree of comfort in the renovation carried out by the architects in the home of his friends Marta and Javier Villavecchia, and he did not let the opportunity pass him by.

As Federico Correa himself stated in an interview, the origin of the Flash-Flash project is the “liberation” that… Pop art. All this was achieved through a series of photographs taken by Pomais himself of his first wife and the mother of his children, Karen Lies, as if she were a photographer at work, which were placed at different points of the room The process of creating Il Giardinetto took a different path, sometimes marked by chance. “My father and Alfonso Mella's company was holding the place, but they had a problem with permits,” says Poldo Bomis. “This meant they had more time to do the initial project.” The most distinctive feature of this design is the use of red, and they did not implement it because they saw that Normand Cinnamond had outperformed them in a place with the same color, which is the Gattopardo restaurant. Summer vacation arrived, and the way Correa came up with the solution is a fascinating tale: On the way to Comillas, he found inspiration by seeing “old people playing pétanque in a public square in a town in the south of France,” Correa said. He said the same in the book Master architects from Barcelona. Conversations with Federico Correa (Publisher Tusquets). “There I applied something I had known for many years – Correa also explained – which is that green plants can be placed side by side, such as yellow green and blue green, which exist in nature. Gardens have taught us to see completely different types of greens mixed together.” “As a natural thing.”

To Corea, this scene seemed so perfect that he quickly sketched the first drawings of the project that same night. “Correa also said that this was the project he spent the most time on, and in the end he got it done in half an hour,” Bumis recalls. “Flash-Flash and Il Giardinetto are works by Correa and Mila that go beyond the most in terms of audience,” says Omar Ornacchi, architect and curator with his partner Aurelie Moura of the exhibition held by the College “Arquitectes de Catalunya,” Ornacci explains. Catalonia has dedicated the year 2023 to Correa and Mila, “from “It is strange that there are two very small works that are the most important.” This is because they were “transgressive” institutions in their time and also because they gathered architects, artists, and intellectuals around them. “This myth accompanies architecture, and it is very difficult to understand one without the other,” he asserts.

The interior design of Il Giardinetto is very unusual: “It is located between Pop art “And intellectualize the space,” Ornack says. “Everyone who wanted to get close to the park did so in a literal way, and at Il Giardinetto Kitsch It is very sublime, and blends directly into the architectural elements, they are not additive. It's on the fine line between a work that holds up fifty years later and has won two FAD Awards and hackneyed sophistication. It is very difficult to get away unscathed from a mission like this,” stresses Ornacki.

However, Il Giardinito also reflects Correa's claim that “form follows function.” In his way of working with Mila, Correa was said to have paid more attention to the project and Mila to the construction management. But this does not mean that Mila's work was secondary, but when he implemented projects he improved and enhanced them. The space shines with details such as the care in designing the stairs and the precise size of the doors and traffic areas. “An architect has to be flexible enough to attack any problem. You have to be talented enough to know that with all the limitations of use, you can create a form that has meaning. I've never been interested in embellishing words. It's terrifying to try to hide points,” Correa said. Weakness in big words.”