Guesthouse is a minimal space located in Bellagio, Italy, designed by Ortalli Verrier. The property is located in Bellagio (Como – Italy), in a sunny basin sheltered from the wind and bordered by a hill which frames it in the shape of an amphitheatre, together with the olive grove and the woods. The Palazzone, the name given to Palazzo Ciceri by its large size, consists of three main bodies: the patrician villa composed of the central Eighteenth-Century block, the adjacent and oldest volume and the agricultural complex that includes the stalls, the ice-house, the barn and the lemon-house. The intervention involved the restoration and reorganization of the complex including the farm, the home of the owners and accommodation for guests and tourists, with the aim of reviving the much coveted harmony between man and nature.

Due to the historical listing of these buildings, the volumetric characteristics and the existing wall openings have been retained. On the exteriors, the intervention comprised the restoration of the historical marble dust and colored lime glaze plasters and new window frames in chestnut wood. Inside, each room is different in size and geometry. The common space develops on two levels: it is the heart of the building, overlooking with a large porch the agricultural part of the property. At street level, the warehouses are organized for agricultural materials and laundry. The renovation work was entirely carried out in dry mortarless construction. Chestnut wood was used for the structure of floors and pavements.

The furniture was purposely designed and made from walnut trees located within the property, whose boards were dried and processed. The architectural project was accompanied by environmental improvements and agronomic interventions to create a garden of subsistence, where every planting is productive for food use, officinal or agricultural. The project was co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (2014-2020) to support the implementation and development of rural tourism activities.

Photography by Federico Villa