In the heart of Tuscan countryside the architects Emanuela Frattini Magnusson and Pietro Todeschini have designed a one-storey holiday home set on a hillside that overlooks rolling vineyards and olive groves.
The project is focused on local resources and materials, so, for example, different-hued chunks of stone from the nearby town of Alberese have been used to create a sort of “thick skin” around the exterior of the home.
The facade has also been fitted with a series of full-height black shutters, which can be slid across to let in cooling breezes from the outdoors and a long corridor leads from the front door to an open-plan living area.
The floor throughout is inlaid with hand-cut terracotta tiles that alternate in size from row to row in order to evoke seminato, a composite flooring technique originating from Italy’s Veneto region where chips of glass, granite, quartz or marble are set into poured concrete.
On the other hand, oak wood has been used to craft the cabinetry in the kitchen and the base of the breakfast island, while countertop and the splashback are made from pale marble that’s quarried in the Tuscan city of Carrara.
The same material palette and graphic flooring continue into the home’s three bedrooms, which each have en-suite wash facilities: wardrobes, chest of drawers and vanity units are made from oak wood, while Carrara marble has been used to line sink basins and the lower half of bathroom walls.
The result is a holiday home that fully celebrates Italian style.
