The sentinel of the Alps

An old lodge with spectacular views of the mountains of Valtellina has been transformed into a welcoming chalet that preserves traces of its former life “One warm August day last year, I got a call,” architect Guido Moro recalls in an interview with Ville&Casali. “It was a client I knew, Valtellina born and bred, tied to the traditions of his region, inviting me to take a look at a lodge that he had just bought in Val Gerola, a beautiful valley in the Orobie Alps in Valtellina. The visit revealed to me a building bursting with potential: an old lodge on the mountain ridge and a really interesting opportunity for a nature-loving designer such as myself.” Inspired by traditional rural houses dotted around the remotest corners of the Alps like ruins, Moro chose to make local stone and wood the basis of his renovation project. Made of recovered local stone (granite from Soglio in Val Bregaglia) and larch, the lodge, consisting of two lateral wings connected by a glazed corridor, extends horizontally, while the roof is clad in split gneiss. Every corner of the building has been designed to make the most of the view. Inside, the scent of wood permeates through every room. Long planks of raw, untreated wood are used to create finishes and pieces of furniture, from the floor to the benches in the dining area, and from the shelves on the walls to the base for the sofa cushions in the lounge. The warmth and comfortable solutions that have transformed the rooms of this welcoming lodge are highlighted by the use of handcrafted, real goose down and pure wool soft furnishings, as well as raw linen upholstery.