Created with the aim of reproducing a typical dining car of the 20s, the Vesuvio represents its historical reinterpretation in the perfect Fondazione FS style, included in the prestigious collection of the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa.
The dining car “Vesuvio” was inspired by two models of restaurant cars (CRz401 and 402), previously known as 3rd class “popular restaurants”. These two carriages, built since 1938 by the “Officine Reggiane” on behalf of Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro, were built according to the design of the car series Cz 32.000, which were projected as dining cars for long distance trains destined to the “Dopolavoro” association journeys. On July 1939, the cars were first employed on the line Rome – Bologna – Wien – Budapest.
Vesuvio is the result of an accurate process of revamping, with a great attention on the project of the spaces and the restoring of the original materials: the chairs accurately reproduced into the marquetry, the tables lighted by the elegant abat-jour that give an event more welcoming atmosphere to the dining room, the curtains made with precious fabrics. The project’s feather in the cap is the semi-circular bar counter, positioned in view of the dining room, with its stuffed benches and the tables, accurately reproduced as the originals.
The car represents not only the example of a wonderful restoring and enhancement work made on a precious historical rolling stock, but also the enhancement of an elegant and innovative space, which can be used as a restaurant area inside the museum.
