Casa Pietra

Overview

A 300-year-old Ligurian stone farmhouse, half ruin, half olive grove. The family wanted a summer house that honoured the building's farming past without romanticising its discomforts.

Challenge

Metre-thick stone walls, no damp course, and a roof open to the sky in two rooms. Modern comfort — insulation, shading, a pool — had to arrive without the building ever looking "done up".

Solution

We rebuilt in the local manner: lime renders, chestnut beams, terracotta from a single demolished cascina nearby. New insertions — glass, blackened steel, the pool — sit clearly apart from the old stone so the centuries stay legible.