MAG.MA REBUILDS RUINS

L’Olio Colto:

www.oliocolto.it

Talk about being ‘of a place’. L’Olio Colto restaurant, in the Italian countryside municipality of Taggia, is surrounded by two things — olive trees and stones. Consequently, the restaurant is primarily constructed of wood, stone, smatterings of iron, and a shade of grey-green that isn’t olive green only because it’s meant to symbolise the changing colours of the olive leaves. Local architects Mag.MA Architecture are all too familiar with the historic buildings of the area, and wanted to give the locals a new experience while simultaneously reconstructing an old edifice. Rather than seeing heritage as a constraint, and looking more like a bunch of archaeologists than architects, Mag.MA slavishly reconstructed the three-storey building from what was essentially a pile of ruins. L’Olio Colto occupies two levels, the bar with food shop operates on the ground floor, and the restaurant occupies the basement. The architecture is rustic, with iron strung across the ceiling like ribs of the vault, open, with traditional arc entrances, and purposefully bare. Paying homage to the simplicity of life refined centuries ago in Taggia.