Even though Shakespeare's Mercutio said that "dreams are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy", everyone has dreamt of a "house of wonders": a villa, perhaps perched on soft green hills, in a bucolic and unspoilt countryside, or caressed by the breeze and scents of the Mediterranean maquis with a spectacular sea view. Anywhere, in short, as long as there is an exciting landscape to frame a welcoming and refined home that does not neglect the pleasures of luxury, where one can feel pampered and sheltered, in harmony with nature and oneself; and even better if the work of architecture is signed by a famous designer, to whom the client confides his desires either because he is driven by the reassuring appreciation of the critics or because he knows perfectly well the profile and sensitivity and knows that only that architect can give form to the insubstantial matter of dreams. These houses exist not only in dreams but, since the families who wanted them built are very careful to protect their intimacy from the prying eyes of those who sadly sigh 'I'd like to but I can't', they are often unheard of or little known. At least until those who have inhabited them decide to hand over a piece of their lives and architectural history to the real estate market. Thus, agencies compete for exclusivity in finding new owners for the villas designed by Carlo Scarpa, his pupil Giuseppe Davanzo in the gentle agricultural landscape on the outskirts of Treviso, and Quirino De Giorgio near Padua; to the villa that Gio Ponti designed for a patron in the Lodi countryside where guests of the calibre of Giorgio De Chirico and Umberto Boccioni used to gather; to the villas that Michele Busiri Vici designed in the paradisiacal scenery of the Costa Smeralda amidst the scents of myrtle and juniper and that Luigi Caccia Dominioni designed on the steep, verdant cliffs of Liguria. Indelible works in the culture and territory that are waiting for a new life: it is a pity that reality is the prerogative of the few who can afford it, and the imagination of those who continue to dream from behind a fence.
Six villas for sale in Italy, designed by great architects
Surrounded by breathtaking natural scenery on sheer cliffs, in the countryside or in the woods, six wonders of Italian architecture designed by Gio Ponti, Carlo Scarpa and more are claiming a new, lucky owner.
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- Chiara Testoni
- 29 June 2022
The 250 square metre "country" house commissioned to Ponti by Viscount and patron Franco Marmont du Haut Champ in the Lodi area is a building with square, essential lines on one floor, built entirely of plastered brickwork. The building houses the manor house with a flat roof and the two-room annexe, with a sloping pitch roof, originally designed for the settler. On the property, amidst orchards and courtyards where garden animals frolic, from the outdoor patio adjacent to the manor house a small bridge leads to a private island in the Muzza Canal, in a magical and dreamy atmosphere that restores the "flavour" of the farmhouses of the past.
In a landscape kissed by the sun and perfumed by the Mediterranean maquis, the residential complex of single-family villas ‘Le Casacce’ in the Arenzano pine forest, designed by Luigi Caccia Dominioni, is in a privileged position in terms of exposure, panoramic view and microclimate. For admirers of the Milanese master, the Villa in Via della Rotonda is for sale: the 180-square-metre building, distributed on three levels with a large living room, kitchen, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, storerooms and cellars, thanks to the views on all four sides intercepts every perspective on the gulf. An architecture with a sober and essential language, with somewhat vernacular features and a rustic and authentic flavour, thanks to the simple and natural materials such as the external plaster in warm tones, and the terracotta and wood of the interiors: after all, in a place like this, all that remains is to enjoy the view, without much to add.
In the spectacular setting of the Costa Smeralda, the complex comprising a 430-square-metre villa and a guest annexe set in a 3-hectare park, in keeping with the "Mediterranean" style architecture that punctuates this corner of paradise, is characterised by low, white volumes, simple, sculptural forms, and natural, local materials that make the construction emerge naturally from the rocks and vegetation, mitigating its impact. Pergolas and terraces blur the boundary between exterior and interior, casting the gaze towards the islands of La Maddalena and Santo Stefano, in a reconciling oasis of harmony and peace.
Perched on a hilltop overlooking the Treviso plain, Carlo Scarpa's 600-square-metre house is set in a 25,000-square-metre estate of olive groves, vineyards, orchards and woods. The three-storey building with large living spaces, dining room and kitchen, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, tavern and accessory rooms, is conceived as a dynamic interplay of volumes of different heights and differently sloping single-pitch roofs, with 360° views of the landscape filtering through the large windows. Simple and natural materials, such as brick and porphyry in the exteriors, terracotta, wood and ceramics in the cladding and interior furnishings, enhance the domestic and comfortable atmosphere that expresses a concept of luxury that is not at all ostentatious.
The 600 square metre villa, located in a 6,000 square metre park, with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 5 fireplaces, piano bar, billiard room and accessory spaces, combines the essential language of the exteriors, characterised by rough visible materials (concrete frame and brick infill) with meticulous attention to detail in the interiors – of Scarpa’s memory – from the fireplace at the entrance that recalls the forms of a bell tower, to the wooden false ceilings, to the lights set in the Douglas wood panelling.
In the quiet rural suburbs south of Treviso, this villa of about 1,000 square metres designed by Giuseppe Davanzo, a pupil of Carlo Scarpa, is set in a spectacular park of 15,000 square metres that surrounds it and protects its intimacy. Originally conceived as a single-family house with separate accommodation for the caretaker, it is now divided into four flats. The simple plastered volumes on different levels with individual pitches house generous spaces characterised by an enveloping atmosphere thanks to the refined finishes and fine materials (wood, terracotta, stone).