Instead, Etro decided, every room was to be kept in its place, fitting for a country manor in a traditional village that’s been maintained, for now, he says, “mostly in the state that it was.” Given how rich people lived four centuries ago, with distinct spaces for entertaining and relaxing, as well as separate ones where servants could clandestinely move about and manage everything, each floor of the home is its own maze of meandering living rooms, hallways, staircases and antechambers; there are three kitchens — a winter one, a summer one and an outdoor one — several sitting areas, three guest bedrooms, a formal dining room and dedicated wings for the couple and their daughter to watch television and sleep.
Only once did the architect with whom Etro worked, a local woman named Lucia Cataldi who “knows the best artisans in the area,” tear down a wall to create better access to the ground-floor winter kitchen but, even then, she had two doors installed that exactly match the house’s many carved wooden ones.
They updated the electricity, lighting and plumbing, but most of their work focused on fixing what previous residents had ruined: The best surprise came when they peeled back decades of paint and plaster on the vaulted and coffered ceilings, revealing elaborately decorated borders in lavender, periwinkle and blush pink.
Persons:
Etro, “, ”, Lucia Cataldi