WORDS Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Courtesy of Didea and Airbnb

Embedded within the walls of one of Sicily’s most evocative historic centres, lies Casa Sambuca: a once-dilapidated home, now sensitively restored through the “1 Euro House” initiative to revive historic villages.

Dating back to the early 20th century, the house had fallen into near-total ruin – collapsed floors, no utilities, pervasive damp. And yet, its bones hinted at spatial quality and architectural character worth preserving. Developed in collaboration with Airbnb, Didea sought to restore dignity to the building, respecting its original architectural language while introducing new open-plan interiors that unfold across three compact levels.

One of the most distinctive features of Casa Sambuca is the pair of perforated steel staircases, rendered in striking lobster red and green, that run vertically through the home. These bold pops of colour directly contrast with the warm, muted palette of the interiors and reference the surrounding landscape’s tones – both functional and symbolic. Vaulted ceilings, interconnected rooms, and timber floors have been retained and enhanced, reinforcing the typological character of the original house.

Natural light plays an active role throughout. Filtered through the perforated steel staircases and translucent internal doors, it animates the space throughout the day. Soft, neutral finishes enhance the effect, shaping a warm, measured, deeply Mediterranean atmosphere in tune with the rhythms of the village and its landscape.

Every element of the interior is custom designed – from the staircases to the integrated furnishings – meticulously created to fit both the proportions of the rooms and the everyday functions of a lived-in home.

The decision to restore Casa Sambuca rather than rebuild, and to engage local artisans and resources, has transformed Casa Sambuca into a home that is deliberate and context-aware – a place where contemporary gestures and local identity coexist in balance. | studiodidea.it

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In Italy’s southern Puglia region, the Salento is where the Salentine Peninsula forms the heel of the Italian boot. It’s here that artist and architect Kico Mion and his wife Stefania Gastaldo have built their summer home.

In Italy‘s far south, the residents talk in the local dialect about lu sule, lu mare, lu ientu – sun, sea and wind; the three powerful natural forces that have shaped the landscape and the local population over centuries. With its red- coloured soil, green olive groves and cactus fields, the landscape often resembles parts of northern Africa or Mexico – but its small villages, country roads with walls of stacked boulders, and vast fields with robust masserie (fortified farms), trulli (workers’ cottages) and casali (farmhouses) show that this is clearly Puglia.

Hints of the centuries-old architectural history are everywhere in a region that southern Italians describe as the “end of the world”, and near the small village of Serranova, nestled in a nature reserve, is Villa Kico. Built as a summer home by the owners – artist and designer Kico Mion and his wife Stefania Gastaldo – it was designed to respect the local environment and architecture, and reflect the characteristics of Kico’s paintings.

During the winter months, the couple live in Veneto, near Venice, where they own a house and work from their painting/ design studio. But for the past 15 years, during the summer months of July, August and September, they have also spent time living and working in Italy’s southern region. They’ve bought and renovated several houses in Puglia, returning to the area again and again in search of a challenge, and creating sanctuaries not just for themselves but for international clients too.

Kico’s aesthetic is about broad lines, spaciousness and the optimal use of natural light, all of which is reflected in the layout of Villa Kico. Stefania’s talents lie in adding character and ambience with vintage furniture, artworks and carefully curated objects, often sourced from second-hand markets in Puglia and Veneto, as well as at auctions and on international websites (in the case of specialised vintage items). The result is an understated yet artistic voluminous structure that’s somewhere between a loft and a villa.

With its sturdy geometric shape, textured facade and minimalist lines, Villa Kico echoes the work of legendary Mexican architect Luis Barragán, embracing Modernism but also deeply rooted in Mexican tradition. The interior colour palette is clearly inspired by the red-brown hue of the soil in the surrounding olive orchards. Looking through the villa from its wooden front door, you catch a glimpse of the azure-blue swimming pool in the distance – a contrast to a moody living space that requires time for your eyes to grow accustomed to it as they transition from light towards dark. Gradually, the space opens up, revealing the personality of its inhabitants in the furniture, artworks and objects.

The living areas are furnished with large tables and sofas, and adorned with Kico’s paintings. These were chosen in close consultation with Stefania, who is passionate about detail and refinement. She often accents rooms with console tables, which then serve as display spaces for decorative items.

Kico describes the house as a kind of cave. Fittingly, the yellow graphic work above the lounge sofa is an interpretation of a prehistoric drawing of a bison. “The cave belongs to us humans as an archetype, because we need its protection, its shelter,” says Kico. “It takes me back to when I was 14 years old and I first saw the work of artist Robert Rauschenberg at the Venice Biennale. From that moment, I planned to create a space for myself – a loft that was large enough to show my own artworks. In those dreams, I already combined paintings and sculptures with architecture.”

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An apartment in a 15th-century palazzo has undergone a restoration that is both sympathetic to its past and acknowledges modernity. The result is a wonderfully eclectic and highly original home.

The small and picturesque medieval town of Monteleone D’Orvieto is perched on a hill in Italy’s Umbria region – the green heart of Italy. Immersed in the area’s natural geography of luxuriant woods and olive groves, lively streams and soft countryside, it’s a peaceful paradise tucked away from the tourist hordes. In one of the town’s small alleys, Italian-born and Chicago-based architect Patrizio Fradiani of Studio F Design, and his husband Mark, have restored an apartment in a 15th-century palazzo.

READ MORE: Sardinian Hotel

Abandoned for 40 years, the apartment clearly showed signs of decay, and the entrance had been closed with a heavy metal door. It was as if someone had dined and left right afterwards, leaving everything as it was: the entire apartment, its furniture, tableware, plates and cutlery were covered in a thick layer of dust. “It looked like a 19th-century film set, and it felt truly fascinating, but also really bizarre,” recalls Patrizio, who immediately fell in love with it. “I could not open the shutters because they were falling apart, so I saw the apartment by the light of a torch,” he adds, amused.

Coming to Monteleone was a journey back to Patrizio’s roots – as a boy, he had spent summer holidays in the family-owned Palazzo Bilancini, where his parents owned an apartment. These days, Patrizio and Mark spend time here in the low season and mid-season, relaxing, reading or taking long hikes with their dogs through olive orchards and woods, loving the peace and the quiet lifestyle.

The apartment origins may go back all the way to the 15th century, but it has undergone a number of changes and significant remodelling over the years. Its brick facade – typical of Umbria houses – and its unpretentious entrance door do not, however, reveal its noble past – it was once home of the Marocchi family, producers of olive oil, and owners of most of the land and olive groves in the area. The entire building was subdivided into apartments for different members of the family; this apartment was the most noble.

“During the restoration work, it was difficult to figure out what to keep and restore, and what to let go of and change,” Patrizio says. Some rooms he left as they were, while others underwent particularly attentive restoration. The entire building had only one bathroom, so three more were added to satisfy the owners’ and their guests’ needs. The original bathroom, built in the late 19th century, featured well-preserved yellow-and-blue tinted glass walls and accents that inspired Patrizio to introduce coloured glass walls throughout the apartment. “We did not add any brick walls, but the division walls we needed were created with tinted glass and screens,” he explains. He chose yellow, white and grey as the colours, because they were missing in the frescoes.

READ MORE: Italian Holiday Home

To further enrich the spaces, he added a green bookshelf and a baroque armchair in pea-green velvet in the living room, a pink armchair in one of the bedrooms, yellow and pea-green dining chairs and myriad colourful artworks. “I like to keep the shell of a house in neutral colours,” he says. “In most of my projects, colour is added only at the end, with objects such as furniture, carpets or cushions, which results in a colourful overall ambience.”

The outcome is a stylish, elegant holiday home that skilfully and eclectically marries the past with the present. (It is also available to rent via Luci Stays.) Patrizio has succeeded in reinventing a building full of history and stories, lovingly bringing life back to its rooms, and adapting them to today’s needs and tastes without compromising their history or charm. It is as though the hushed memories of his childhood guided him to find the thread for yet another story to be lived and told.

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Combining art and culture with a unique natural and historical setting, Italy’s Villa Lena showcases a new, exciting type of travel destination that blends holiday relaxation with creative inspiration.

It’s an origin story redolent with romance: a country villa, situated close to the Tuscan village of Palaia – midway between Pisa and Florence – is built by a wealthy family of Italian aristocrats in the late 19th century. It soon becomes a famous venue for parties and meetings (and hunting), and the family cultivates olives, grapes and wheat on the land. But after its early 20th century heyday, and with the death of the original owner in 1931, the estate goes into decline, undergoing many changes in ownership as the subsequent decades go by.

As a result, when the current owners bought the San Michele estate in 2007, it was in a state of extensive disrepair. Fortunately, art world professional Lena Evstafieva, musician and producer Jérôme Hadey, and Parisian restaurateur and nightclub owner Lionel Bensemoun had a plan: they’d combine their skills and knowledge to redevelop the property, and found the Villa Lena Agriturismo Experience and Art Foundation.

Today, Villa Lena is the kind of hybrid travel destination that we’re expecting to see much more of in the coming decade: it’s a creative residence, an agritourism hotel and a tranquil holiday escape. Guests interact with Villa Lena’s creative family – and in the process, they celebrate local Tuscan history, culture and food in an environment that offers international artists, writers, designers, filmmakers, musicians, creatives, chefs and agricultural experts the space to explore and hone their respective crafts.

The estate includes 500 hectares of woodland, vineyards, olive groves and organic vegetable gardens. The villa itself, sitting at the heart of the property, now houses the Villa Lena Art Foundation and artist-in-residence programme. Beautifully converted, historic agricultural buildings – former farmhouses, stables and hunting lodges – contain guest apartments and other shared facilities.

Creativity and collaboration are essential to life at Villa Lena, with a programme of events ranging from artists’ talks to children’s activities, and alfresco film screenings to cooking workshops and candlelit concerts. As a guest here, you can choose to spend your days exploring the woodlands, or visiting nearby towns and cities such as San Gimignano or Siena. You can learn to make fresh pasta, forage for truffles, socialise over cocktails or just relax by the pool. Each evening, guests and artists gather at the terrace restaurant for a communal dining experience – where, of course, you can expect seasonal, organic menus rooted in Italian cuisine and prepared by the visiting chef-in-residence.

Lena was the gallery director at Pace London before coming to run the Villa Lena Art Foundation. Previous programme participants and advisory board members of the foundation include RZA (of Wu-Tang Clan fame), artist and filmmaker Lola Schnabel, fashion designer Barbara Casasola, gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin and art curator Caroline Bourgeois. The artistic energy at Villa Lena is infectious, and guests are encouraged to participate in workshops, talks and other events in collaboration with the resident artists.

With a conscious dedication to art and culture at the heart of the project, this is an inspiring and serene place for individuals and for families. Villa Lena cultivates both nature and culture, exemplifying a new way of living – and providing a genuinely fresh choice for travellers in search of something out of the ordinary.

For more information, visit villa-lena.it

ooking for more architectural or travel inspiration? Sign up to our weekly newsletter, here, or take a look at the Hoxton in Rome.

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Designed by Italian architect Francesca Perani, this multi-purpose ‘urban cabin’ used as a studio, guest house and retreat was initially a narrow porch connecting two overlapping villas. 

The space was originally used as a bicycle storage shed. The cabin is 25 square meters and is a long and narrow space. The small cabin has two main areas – the living rooms and combined kitchen and bedroom as well as a separate bathroom.

The living area includes a 7m long bench for seating and storage underneath, while also unfolding into two single beds and allowing the remainder of the home to be split into a stylish bathroom.

Inspired by colour, texture and Persian design, the bathroom features indigo blue accents drawing reference to the mosque tiles, and recycled OSB timber throughout the space, creating a unique decor experience. The roof also featured a greenery system, adding to the sustainability of the space.

A creative metal screen adds an interesting element as well as privacy onto the triangular garden. | francescaperani.com

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Love small spaces? This short video by NEVER TOO SMALL shows the revamp of an open-plan Italian apartment into a space for four inspired by the ocean and boats.

The summerhouse is designed for four people, and was created to the simple brief of making two rooms from the 35 square meters of available space.

llabb Architecture converted the 1970s open-plan studio apartment by compartmentalising the space using storage, creating two “hidden” bedrooms for sleeping stacked on top of each other. This mimics the concept of how people live on sailing boats.

The bright and light open living area is surrounded by a “waterline”, referencing back to the ocean and the nautical feel, which connects to the small but efficient kitchen.

The bathroom adds a pop of colour with sea-blue tiles against white walls and wooden vertical shelves. The floors feature wooden tiles inspired by the decking of a boat.

Visit llabb.eu to see more of their creative projects.

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Simone Subissati Architects is behind the design of Border Crossing House, a private residence perched on the hills in Italy’s Marche region, dividing city and countryside.

The design of the home, located in Polverigi, Ancona, is inspired by the surrounding environment, taking cues from the landscape. Fenceless and boundary-breaking, the home features a variety of entry-exit points, each different in shape and function, with private living spaces appearing as one with the hilly surrounds.

The main body of the building is constructed with iron and painted with an anti-rust primer. While the ground floor is dedicated to the living area, the bedrooms are located on the upper floor, where, instead of simple windows, visual devices called “diaphragms” make for further connection to the undulating scenes beyond.

READ MORE: Italian Holiday Home

“I imagined a space that would feel as if it was inherited,” says Simone. “I wanted it to be the least opulent it could be: it is meant to feel as if it had always been there… So essential that you can almost think of it as a temporary place, as if it were an outdoor park. A light, flexible space that, as if it was there already, could now be reclaimed.”

Rustico, a poetic short film by Federica Biondi, explores the home’s unique luxury; a visual storytelling of architecture driven by conceptual perspective and the search for uninhibited space.

To see more of Simone Subissati’s projects, visit simonesubissati.it.

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Set on a picturesque family-owned apple farm in the north east of Italy, the Apfelhotel has undergone an expansion under the direction of Italian architecture and design studio noa* that includes a restaurant, wellness centre and apple-shaped sauna, and 18 new garden suites. 

The three buildings that house the suites have been designed with saddle roofs to “absorb the architectural language of their surroundings”, according to noa*, with geometric façades that aim to blend traditional and modern aesthetics. “The buildings’ outer [shells have] been deliberately kept dark in an ode to the traditional character of a barn house.”

The wellness facility – the Brunnenhaus or “Water Well House” – is the hotel’s centrepiece: a curved semi-exposed concrete shell that’s tucked into the landscape and covered in grass. Its south side opens up with a glass and steel facade to the indoor-outdoor pool, lush greenery and views of the valley.

The upper level features a sauna lounge, relaxation room, Finnish sauna and steam bath with curved timber slats and views of the orchids, and an adjacent terrace where guests can refresh with an outdoor shower. The Apfelsauna or “Apple sauna” is located in the garden and is reached via a curved open staircase.

The rural farm context and characteristics of the region were important influences for the interior design. Timber cladding, milling and coarse natural fibres are used throughout. The restaurant’s interior theme is inspired by a modern winter garden. Plants and lights hang from the unique ceiling structure. The space has been divided by cupboards and floor-to-ceiling shelves that work to create a cosy, living-room feel, but are also moveable so the space can change and adapt. Nature, quite literally, flows through the space: Guests are able to drink from a natural spring water fountain.

To find out more about the hotel, visit apfelhotel.com, and check out more projects by noa* network of architecture at noa.network and @networkofarchitecture on Instagram.

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Located in the heart of Florence, Italy is a minimalist gem designed by Pierattelli Architetture that boasts an unrivalled view of the famed Ponte Vecchio.

Spacious for compact living at 130 m², the lounge of this single-storey stunner boasts two off-centre pivot windows that give the illusion of space by welcoming the most iconic picture-frame view of Florence’s Old Bridge.

A real-time painting of sorts, the sounds of the rushing river and beams of natural light pleasantly flood the apartment keeping the bustle of the city close enough to enjoy but far enough to experience tranquility.

Pierattelli Architetture approached the design with the aim of creating an interior that whispered luxury as opposed to shouting opulence. Intricate detailing on furnishings custom-built by local artisans reveals a keen eye for attention to detail. Calming hues of white and blue allow for statement pieces such as Flos lighting fixtures and Knoll furniture to take centre stage, while not detracting from the calming ambience.

See more projects by Pierattelli Architetture, here.

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Paris studio CARBONDALE’s design of Dolce & Gabbana’s flagship Venice store is an aesthetic love affair between brand and city. 

Eric Carlson of CARBONDALE set out to deliver a uniquely romanticised and luxurious retail experience that embodies the cultural authenticity and traditions that both Dolce & Gabbana and Venice share. Spanning 800-square-metres, the double-storey structure is an alluring harmony between contemporary and neo-Venetian Renaissance styles.

Created for a powerhouse brand renowned for contrasts, it is only fitting that the interior and exterior designs heighten this brand ethos by juxtaposing the old and new. Step inside the grand space and you will find that each room is dressed in different finishes and rich palettes of colour. Eric’s modern designs celebrate and accentuate traditional Venetian craftsmanship techniques.

The regal space boasts 14 rooms, each opulent beyond measure, with features that include intricately patterned inlays, various marbles, semi-precious stone facades, silk damasks, delicate fabric weaves and hand-blown Murano glass by the Seguso family. Hand-carved wooden detailing decks the walls and ceilings while mosaic glass stones dressed in 24-karat gold cover the floors. Designer furniture pieces either cleverly fade into their surroundings or mirror the historical ambience.

Love this space? See more designs by CARBONDALE, here.

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