The emblematic brand of Louis Vuitton, in collaboration with the esteemed Da Vittorio restaurant group, decides to extend its sensory influence on the Milanese public with the opening of a new restaurant and café in the heart of the city. Such an iconic partnership needed an equally prominent location to conduct its activity, thus the choice of the newly restored Palazzo Taverna was obvious. After all, what better pairing is there than fine gastronomy, haute couture, and splendid architecture?
By Louis Vuitton
In what concerns the expansion of Louis Vuitton into the gastronomic world, it all began in Japan in 2020 where the first ever restaurant and café of the brand was opened at Maison Osaka Midosuji in collaboration with chef Yosuke Suga. Only 2 years later, the brand came back to its origins in Paris and inaugurated a café and chocolate shop helmed by the renowned pastry chef Maxime Frederic. Their next move was to raise the public’s expectations even closer to the sky establishing the Louis Vuitton Lounge at Heathrow airport, Terminal 2, run by triple Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alleno. Finally, after opening their last café at Fifth Avenue Maison in Manhattan in 2024, they decided it was time for an even greater challenge: approaching Italian cuisine.
Da Vittorio is one of Italy’s most prominent culinary institutions with a legacy rooted in family, tradition, and excellence. Everything started in 1966 when Vittorio Cerea and his wife Bruna decided to open a traditional Italian restaurant in Bergamo. What gained the restaurant a rapid reputation for its refined approach was the mastery of seafood , which was a rarity at that time in northern Italy. Over the decades, the restaurant has grown into a fully-fledged gastronomic empire, proudly holding three Michelin stars. Today, it is led by the second generation of Cerea family, who managed to bring up to date the fusion between authenticity and innovation, every dish representing a celebration of Italian heritage translated into our modern days. Besides its historic flagship location, the Da Vittorio group expanded internationally with ventures in St. Moritz, Shanghai, and now, with the collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Milan.
Palazzo Taverna is known to be an emblematic Milanese landmark which after a 3-year renovation done by architect Peter Marino reopened its doors this April during Milan Design week in Via Monte Napoleone. The Louis Vuitton x Da Vittorio exploits in a dual manner this space: on the one side , there is the Da Vittorio Louis Vuitton café which has a softer and more informal proposal inside the courtyard of the building, while, on the other side there is the DaV by Da Vittorio Louis Vuitton, the refined restaurant, with a separate entrance in Via Bagutta. What needs to be underlined here is the fact that the design of the venue is the one that compensates the renouncement of French Cuisine, managing to keep the brand’s DNA present in every single detail.
By Louis Vuitton. The The Da Vittorio Café Louis Vuitton
In conclusion, while some might argue that merging one of France’s most iconic fashion houses with a pillar of Italian culinary tradition, right in the heart of Milan’s famed fashion district, risks diluting both identities, the reality is quite the opposite: the two worlds complement each other flawlessly, elevating the experience into something truly extraordinary.
