There is a road from the eye to the heart
that does not go throught the intellect
-K.Chesterton

6/27/2013

A little piece of the Mediterranean in Malibú

A little piece of Mediterranean in Malibú ....

Richard Shapiro ,designer and antiques dealer ,created a beautiful romantic villa with a strong Mediterranean feel in Broad Beach ,Malibu .This home was featured in the April 2011 issue of  Architectural Digest

“This house is a folly designed to look like an ancient building I could have found hidden beneath the undergrowth for centuries on this remote bluff,” says Richard Shapiro.
“I planned the interiors to look old, too. I’ve always been attracted to antiquity and want to live in another time.”



 The Morrocan-style courtyard with tiles from Marrakech.



 Boxwood, a favorite of the designer, in the courtyard, with bougainvillea, orange trees, Boston ivy and jasmine. 













 The dining area’s powder-coated table is by MDF Italia. Chairs from Cost Plus World Market were painted marine blue.





An arched doorway leads from the study to the garden.



Shapiro’s “collector’s cabinet” study is a refuge with prized archival North African photography, an 18th-century Spanish desk and a sandstone-and-slate floor. The fireplace is from Cyprus.



He designed the sleek steel balustrade, painted gunmetal gray.



“I went on a lark,” recalls Shapiro. “I stepped inside the front gate, saw the view and discovered total seclusion. I was smitten. Within 30 minutes I knew exactly the house I would build here.”
“I originally planned it as a weekend house, but I’ve found I’m spending more and more time here,” says Shapiro. “Friends drive up from Los Angeles. We have drinks and watch the sunset, and we enjoy dinner on the terrace with a big fire on cool evenings.” 
"I loved that I’d be starting from scratch, creating whatever I wanted,” Shapiro explains. “Tall hedges and bougainvillea disguised the neighboring houses so nothing would intrude on my concept.”



A 19th-century Uzbek suzani covers Shapiro’s bed; the 17th-century Italian Savonarola chair stands alongside an antique Burgundian roof corbel













6/25/2013

Le Grotte della Civita ...a window in time


As a sphinx that watches over the Pyramides ,Sassi di Matera   ( "stones of Matera") an ancient city excaved from the rock of the Gravina canyon ,has been watching over the ancient memories that still whispers stories never told through its narrow streets and caves .It's been  a silent witness of the march of time .Located in the far southern Italy , Basilicata .Sassi di Matera has been inhabited by all the ages of humanity since the Paleolithic period .It's a breathtaking place where it's easy to get overwhelmed by the historic environment that encompasses all those material remains that our acenstros dating back to Paleolithic times have created in the landscape .A place wher you can hear the wise silence speaking in loud voice . 


A couple of years ago while searching on the web I came across one of the most beautiful and unique boutique hotels I'd ever seen called Le Grotte della Civita ,set in a prehistoric cave in Sassi di Matera (In Basilicata ,just south of Puglia) and led me to Sextantio Albergo Diffuso .It was love at first sight ,this cutty edgy boutique hotel got me head over heels in the blink of an eye .Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita is an Albergo Difuso ,this concept is a great italian sutainable tourism idea .It's a traveler inmersion into a town's history ....it not only avoids the construction of new hotels on the ouskirts but take buildings that have abandonaded and gives them new purpose while keeping their antique appeal was the creator .You can read more about it here : Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita -Albergo Difusso concept 
Daniele Kihlgren was the creator of Sextantio Albergo Diffuso and Le Grotte della Civita to preserve the natural beauty and local heritage of Italy's south In Sassi di Matera he restored some cave dwellings which for most of their 2500 years were home to peasants and monks .The result is an authentic collection of 18 simple rooms called , Le Grotte della Civita .He saids   : 

     “Italy is becoming faker and faker,” he declares. “That’s why, when I start on these projects, I begin as if I’m setting up a museum. We look at the artisanal traditions that contributed to how these buildings were originally constructed. We look for the old recipes, which then find their way into the restaurant. The kind of clients who understand what I’m doing are deeply educated in anthropology themselves. They consider authenticity to be a very real value in today’s world.”
                                        Source of the images  http://www.sextantio.it/


                                                                       ©Nico Tucci 


If you want the deeper sense of a place you have to sleep in a house of that place not in a international Hotel . Herman Hesse -On Voyage

Come in   .....

Source of the images :http://www.sextantio.it/










































"An albergo diffuso is more than a tourist structure and more than a renovation project – it’s a cultural encounter that enriches the lives of the locals as well as the travelers, and often forges friendships in the process. It’s more than a hotel stay; it’s a traveler’s immersion into a town’s history and life." 

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