A panoramic building at an altitude of 1,700 metres, built on the rocky brow of the mountain with a breathtaking view of the Lugano foothills: this is Fiore di Pietra, a new tourist facility and the symbol of Monte Generoso, designed by Mario Botta who also fitted out the interior spaces.
Prestigious studios collaborated in the project and made it a real work of architecture, build to an octagonal plan with individual “petals” that enclose a central space: a layout marked by a series of five-storey towers inclined slightly outwards at the base and coming together at the top.
A large portico on the ground floor has a revolving door and an exhibition area with panels on the history of Monte Generoso, along with a model of the current construction with the drawings and study sketches by the architect Mario Botta. The technical rooms are on the first floor, a conference hall on the second and, on the two upper floors, a chic, welcoming restaurant, “Fiore di Pietra”, and a self-service restaurant with 120 seats and access to the “Generoso” panoramic terrace that follows the line of the crest of the mountain.
Alias products were chosen to fit out the rooms designated for catering. Riccardo Blumer’s laleggera chairs were selected for the restaurant and self-service outlet: chairs created from a combination of a traditional material, solid wood, and the latest light polyurethane foam for the upholstery, the utmost expression of technology applied to design. The panoramic terrace, on the other hand, features the bigframe chairs of Alberto Meda, with an extruded aluminium frame and die-cast elements, and a seat in PVC-coated polyester mesh in the total black version.
