La Volta at RH Milan: come for the setting, stay for the evening
New restaurants open in Milan all the time, and the question is always the same: another faded copy, or something that will actually leave a mark? At La Volta at RH Milan, you have your answer by the time you reach the bottom of the stairs. The space is extraordinary, and reason enough to go.
We went to the new Corso Venezia restaurant to find out whether, beyond the setting, there is also a good reason to sit down at the table. Here is how it went.
RH's first Italian restaurant, in a nineteenth-century palazzo
Opened in spring 2026, La Volta is the first Italian restaurant from RH (formerly Restoration Hardware), the American luxury furniture group. RH Chairman and CEO Gary Friedman dedicated it to the Italian heritage of his mother, Angelina Ascari, and to his uncle Geno Ascari's love of cooking. It is a personal project before it is a commercial one.
The setting is Palazzo del Principe di Piombino at Corso Venezia 56, a Neo-Renaissance building designed by Giorgio Pellini in 1880, closed for years and now given back to the city. RH calls its seven levels and more than seven thousand square metres a "Gallery": less a furniture showroom than a hybrid of exhibition space, architecture and design library, restaurant, bar and a rare private garden in the heart of Milan.
Amore e Psiche beneath a glass and bronze dome
La Volta takes up the lower level: vaulted ceilings, limestone walls, the feel of a contemporary grotto. At the centre of the underground courtyard stands Amore e Psiche by Fabio Viale, one of Italy's most acclaimed contemporary sculptors, known for marble carved with almost hyperrealist precision. The sculpture seems to float above a circular fountain, framed by large olive trees, beneath a glass and bronze roof that opens the room to the sky by day.
By day or by night the effect is theatrical, and despite being below ground the room never feels closed in. This is where the real experience lies: in the space, more than on the plate.
Solid Italian cooking, with a few RH classics
The menu follows the family dedication: pizzas, risottos, fresh pasta, cotoletta alla milanese, Lombard tradition handled with a light touch. Alongside the Italian dishes sit a few favourites from RH's American restaurants, such as the RH Burger and the Lobster Roll with caviar. They stay in the background, but they are a reminder of the brand's international identity.
The food doesn't reinvent Milan's dining scene, and doesn't try to. The dishes start from simple, familiar Italian ideas and are carefully executed: enjoyable, though not memorable in the way a real culinary discovery is. It is competent cooking that suits its setting, and the setting remains the star.
For a drink before or after dinner, the bar room sits next to the courtyard: more intimate, with stone walls, a gilded mirrored ceiling and a large bas-relief behind the counter.
Service, prices, crowd
Service is warm and knowledgeable, as you would expect from a project of this calibre, without the snobbery that would have been an easy trap to fall into.
Prices match the venue's positioning: OpenTable places La Volta in the €31–50 bracket. It is money well spent on the overall experience (the space, the service, the atmosphere) rather than on the food alone.
The crowd is cosmopolitan: stylish Milanese, curious travellers, international design professionals who discover the Gallery and decide to stay for a meal. It is the combination of all this, the setting, the service and the people in the room, that makes La Volta worth trying at least once.
The HÕMA Notes verdict
Recommended, with one caveat: go to La Volta for the setting, the service and the atmosphere, not for a dish you will still be talking about days later. Arrive with that expectation and you will leave happy. If fine dining is what you are after, Milan has better-suited addresses.
It is the right choice for a special evening: an anniversary, a business dinner where you want to make an impression, a long aperitivo in a place that speaks for itself. A historic palazzo, a Fabio Viale sculpture, a glass dome and RH design add up to an atmosphere with few equals in Milan, and one that makes up for the occasional hesitation in the kitchen.
La Volta at RH Milan: practical information
Corso Venezia 56 — Open daily for lunch and dinner
Where: Corso Venezia 56, on the stretch leading up to Porta Venezia, level with the Indro Montanelli Gardens
Hours: Monday–Thursday 12pm–10pm · Friday 12pm–11pm · Saturday 11am–11pm · Sunday 11am–10pm
Reservations: +39 02 8128 9528 · rh.com/milan/lavolta
From HÕMA
From HÕMA Porta Venezia it is about a ten-minute walk: head to the old city gates and continue along Corso Venezia. No taxis, no public transport: dinner at La Volta and a stroll back is one of the easiest evenings in the neighbourhood.
From HÕMA Spiga the walk is just as simple: about twelve minutes up Corso Venezia towards Porta Venezia, along one of Milan's most elegant streets, lined with aristocratic palazzi and the public gardens.
As always, the HÕMA team can book a table for guests. La Volta is busy, so for weekends it is best to ask a few days ahead.
Choose your HÕMA in Milan
Two properties, a short walk from La Volta.
