Foster + Partners’ new restaurant, Zita, and contemporary art gallery are the latest additions to Monteverdi Tuscany. The luxury boutique hotel is set within a medieval hilltop village overlooking the Val d’Orcia.

The project restores a number of unused buildings in the village, transforming them into intimate spaces for dining, culture and entertainment.

The Zita restaurant is a contemporary take on the charm of the Tuscan countryside, featuring reclaimed materials – such as stone, brick and timber – and a colour palette of natural tones inspired by the hotel’s surroundings. The design incorporates greens drawn from the region’s vineyards and yellows that are influenced by the terra di Siena, or ‘Earth of Siena.’ Custom-designed elements, crafted by local artisans, are also featured prominently throughout the space, including leather wrapped wine bottle displays, carved timber waiter stations and a contemporary banquette that is made from traditional metals and original Tuscan textiles. Within this context, the lighting has been crafted carefully with a respectful approach of these materials.

The lighting strategy has been tailored by Foster + Partners’ Lighting Team. It utilises track-mounted lighting fixtures that can be easily adjusted, providing the operator with a high level of flexibility and creative freedom. The system includes night and day scenes, which differ not only in terms of colour temperature, but also for the mood created by activating different fixtures, responding to the changing menu and use of the spaces.

In the welcoming Zita bar area, featuring a carved rock and oxidised copper bar centrepiece, the lighting system has been developed with respect to the retained ceiling, and integrated where possible in the furniture. In the dining room and wine cellar, the same flexible system has been applied to the vaulted ceiling, where the focal point is the illuminated rock wall at the rear of a private dining space to create an intimate and cozy atmosphere.

The design maintains and celebrates many of the buildings’ original features, including original timbers and brick ceilings. The existing walls have been kept in place and new openings are created to enhance the functionality of the space, while preserving the original arches. The openings overlook the outdoor dining space, where simple but extremely warm lighting invites guests to enjoy a memorable experience.

The adjacent art gallery includes a library and exhibition spaces to showcase a collection of artworks by prominent contemporary visual artists and new pieces by the hotel’s visiting artists-in-residence. The custom lighting elements, mounted at the level of the cornice, have been designed to provide maximum flexibility by uniformly washing the walls with light. The appearance of the restored vaulted ceiling is enhanced by dedicated uplighting integrated within the cornice.

The gallery offers panoramic views of the surrounding landscape, creating an exquisite backdrop for the artworks on display.


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Lighting Designer Partners

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