Studio Apostoli designs the SPA for the Casale del Principe, a farmhouse perfectly integrated into the environment, within the Sicilian village of Monreale.
In Monreale, a few kilometers from the center of Palermo, there is a place where the many cultural influences that have followed one another in Sicily find their synthesis: it is called Casale del Principe and it is a ‘boutique’ farmhouse where guests can experience the most authentic spirit of the island. It is not just an obligatory stop on the food and wine tours of the territory - with the many organic products made from the large orchards of the property, the olive trees, the rows of vines - but a retreat within which you can experience suggestions of the time of the Greeks, of the Romans, of the Byzantine, Norman and Spanish ages. Bordered by the seventeenth-century walls, built when the structure was used as a monastery, the Casale opens onto the hills of the Jato valley and is the result of a complex of buildings that have been added over time, starting from the distant sixteenth century. The last addition was completed by the architect Alberto Apostoli, with the creation of a large wellness area whose external volume is defined by a stone cladding, punctuated by large arched window openings and completed
by a central rosette at the top. Inside, a living and sensory space opens up, where every construction detail has been designed to make the most of the materials and construction techniques of the area. The local stone finishes of the walls mix with the wooden floor coverings, scattered with
planters where Mediterranean tree varieties, cacti and succulents are housed. Nature penetrates the wellness center according to an approach of full integration, strongly desired by Studio Apostoli: the creepers envelop some of the structural elements, the glass is decorated with flowing lines that follow one another and evoke the intertwining of the branches and foliage of the trees, while near the swimming pool with hydromassage stations, the backlit plasterboards draw the profile of a clearing. The idea of the forest also continues on the ceiling, with overlapping floors with soft shapes.
On the ground floor, near the arched windows, a cocoon made with an intertwining of natural marsh grass rope, anchored to a metal structure, constitutes the focal element: it houses a treatment cabin for massages and treatments with essences, and is suspended above a body of water complete with chromotherapy lighting. Color, in fact, defines this entire level of the structure and makes it powerful, highly suggestive; color is also the protagonist in the other areas of the floor, with treatment rooms, a glassed-in sauna, a hammam divided into a calidarium and tepidarium, a shower path and a relaxation room, developed within a short distance of each other.
On the lower floor, reachable via a sculptural painted steel staircase, the swimming pool is
obtained by digging into the rock; the same rock was then used as an architectural and decorative covering material. The surface of the pool is in blue mosaic, with lush designs of leaves and petals on the bottom, according to the full desire for respect and bond with local biodiversity. Outside the SPA, a series of terraces with decorative and medicinal plants, spices and fruits were chosen by Alberto Apostoli to complete the wellness program, once again marked by genius loci and territorial identity.
“The same attention to the context is also reserved for the design of the seven suites for which I was in charge” says the architect Alberto Apostoli, who continues: “The rooms coincide with as many unique settings, inspired by stone, wood, history, water, citrus fruits, Sicilian culture and art. In many of the rooms the wellness element returns, and the bathroom area is perfectly integrated into the room, with an exposed shower area, freestanding bathtub and open sink area. Casale del Principe was an opportunity not only for work, but also for learning, where I was able to immerse myself and deepen the themes of the island’s culture. The result is a precious wealth of knowledge that I have translated into one of the projects that is dearest to me in my professional experience”.