100 years
Cantina Piemontese is located in the historic Ca’ dei Tencitt palace. It is a place where you can breathe in the true history of Milan. Its basement was once the ancient charcoal depot of the Duomo Factory, and today this space is known as the Sala dei Tencitt. In the past, the palace overlooked the “Laghett,” the closest nautical landing to the Duomo, where barges loaded with marble and coal arrived for its construction. The coal was unloaded in the palace’s basement by the “tencitt,” charcoal burners who were called “dirty and small” (from the Milanese word “tencio” meaning dirty, combined with “small” given by the diminutive “itt”). All of this makes the restaurant a truly unique place.
Small and Dirty
Being “small and dirty” was their fortune because the layer of coal that covered them acted as an antiseptic, and during the plague outbreaks in Milan, none of them were infected, despite the unhygienic conditions due to the place and the work. As a token of gratitude for surviving the plague, the charcoal burners created the fresco that can be admired on the exterior wall of the building, dedicated to the Madonna dei Tencitt.
Lounge bar
The history of the basement of Ca’ dei Tencitt continued over the years and transformed over time. In the 1960s, it became the first American Lounge Club in Milan, where many musicians of the time performed. In the 1970s, it became a gathering place for artists, intellectuals, connoisseurs, and bohemians. However, during the student protests of the late 1970s, it was set on fire twice and subsequently abandoned.