“I fell in love with the place, its history” François Ventrici is a business manager, he runs the Synergie Plus company in Clouange and chairs the Amnéville football club. François Ventrici also had an “old dream”, to open an Italian restaurant in an atypical place. So when, for the first time, he entered the old Thionville prison located rue de l’Ancien-Hôpital, he knew he had found what he was looking for. A year of (major) work later, La Prison dorée has regained its original walls, floors and ceilings to restore the 19th century building to its soul, that of a remand prison, and its 25 places. , closed at the beginning of the eighties. “It is a titanic site”, further specifies the owner of the place who wanted at all costs to preserve “the authenticity of the building”.
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Cells and visiting room
There are no open spaces here, but a succession of cells with the hinges of the heavy doors still riveted to the Jaumont stone walls, the original serving hatches and bars on the windows which contrast with resolutely designer furniture. Each cell offers an intimate space for lunch or dinner with friends or family, in “strict compliance with health standards in times of Covid”. The old parlor has been transformed into a dining room, as has the old square interior courtyard which offers a beautiful open-air space.
Ideas, François Ventrici is not lacking since he also intends to convert the attic into a lounge bar with “rooftop” (which will open in April 2021) and will offer from mid-October a space to be privatized for seminars and meals business or family on the first floor, street side. A team of ten people will manage the 115 seats distributed over the various interior and exterior spaces. As for the cuisine, Italian gastronomy will be in the spotlight, accompanied by “good wines”.
And the company manager continues: “The whole team is already in place and is waiting for the green light to start. François Ventrici hopes to be able to open in a little over a month. Impatient, he certainly is: “I’ve been waiting for this for twenty years.” Pacing the long corridors with worn walls, once marked by the presence of inmates, he polishes every detail with his interior designer, Armelle Coudel. “I even had the entrance gate redone identically,” he prides himself. Without the key. Obviously.
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