ITALIAN RHAPSODY
This Tuscan farmhouse had a makeover that let it retain its rustic character
When Samantha and Jack Hooper bought this Italian farmhouse, they had to tune into a different pace of life. ‘We realised from the start that renovating and decorating our home would need to happen gradually,’ says Samantha. Fittingly, they discovered the Tuscan village where the house is on a gentle-paced cycling holiday 15 years ago. ‘That was the start of a dream that, one day, we would buy a property here.’
Samantha and Jack and their now grown-up children – Eve, Laura and James – were based in Melbourne, Australia, at the time so house-hunting was inevitably a drawn-out process. ‘We fitted viewings into annual holidays here or if Jack was on a business trip in Europe he would tack one on to a weekend visit,’ Samantha explains.
Their patience paid off when they viewed this casa colonica, a traditional Tuscan farmhouse with a core that dates from the 16th century. Historically, its layout would have been divided into upstairs living areas for the family, while the ground floor would have been inhabited by stabled farm animals. The farmhouse had been converted 50 years earlier by its previous owners so the downstairs was habitable, but the modernisations had both pros and cons. ‘The large French windows meant the living spaces felt flooded with light and linked with the outside, but some of the materials used were not in keeping with the house’s character.’ For example, there was a mishmash of original terracotta tiles and poorer quality new versions, and concrete had been used to cover some of the walls.
To help the house regain a sense of authenticity, the couple turned to Sabrina Bignami and Alessandro Capellaro of architecture practice b-arch. ‘They immediately understood what we wanted and worked really hard to put the character back into this ancient home,’ says Samantha.
Floor tiles were taken up one by one and the newer versions were replaced with salvaged ones. ‘The builders chipped away a test area of the cement on the walls,’ remembers Samantha. ‘This revealed the lovely stone underneath, which was in good enough condition to leave exposed, so they kept going.’
Beams were given a coat of limewash so that they blended more easily into the reworked pale spaces, while chalky paint shades were used in the upstairs bedrooms, applied in strokes that recall the variegated and textural finish of traditional lime plaster.
The couple relocated the kitchen from a skinny dark space at the back of the house to its centre, where it acts as a natural hub, with dining and living spaces and an outside area leading off it. ‘This is a far more sociable layout,’ Samantha says. Reclaimed ceramic tiles were sourced for the kitchen and bathrooms, adding colour in an authentically faded form, and furniture is a mix of vintage and contemporary.
Each time the couple visited Italy, Sabrina and Alessandro took them around the local markets and antiques shops. ‘One store in the backstreets of Prato is so hidden that we never even knew the address, we just followed in Alessandro’s footsteps,’ says Samantha.
A few well-judged examples of modern lighting and furniture add a further layer to the house’s style. ‘We wanted our home to retain its rustic character but in an upscale, sophisticated way,’ Samantha explains. ‘The uncluttered spaces have let the house’s own personality emerge again – slowly but surely.’ &