CASALE

A couple with three children give a new lease of life to a seventeenth-century property thanks to the Brescia-based studio Flussocreativo.

From rustic farmhouse to modern, comfortable family home: Brescia-based architects Flussocreativo create a seamless blend of nature and history.

A C17th farmhouse at Cellatica, in the Franciacorta hills, has undergone an enchanting transformation thanks to the creativity of Brescia-based firm Flussocreativo. The owners, a family with three children, awarded the two designers Gianfranco Di Costanzo and Daniel Facchetti the difficult task of providing a modern home that still retained the location’s historic character, with the aid of well-chosen stylistic features.

The renovation project mainly involved the replacement of the floors and roofs, together with the construction of a new staircase to link the farmhouse’s two floors and create a mezzanine to accommodate the children’s bedrooms and a utility area skilfully concealed by wall cupboards.

The house’s living area features a fascinating triangle that links the dining area to the living room and the kitchen, all of which share the common denominator of the floor covering used over the entire zone: Flussocreativo chose the slabs of Ragno’s Realstone_Lunar collection in Beige finish, a stone-effect stoneware that reinterprets the patterning of “asphalt rock”, with its dark color and elegant veining, that unites the various rooms and brings the irregular textures of nature into the home.

The Realstone_Lunar collection also proved to be the perfect choice in practical terms, since it is manufactured with the StepWise patented technology, which guarantees a high degree of slip resistance combined with a surface that is still soft-touch and easy to clean, since it has no superficial roughness.

The large size of the 120×120 cm slabs further enhances the sense of uncluttered space in the three living-area rooms and highlights the house’s most distinctive characteristics, such as the striking antique brick vaulted ceiling in the kitchen or the way the surrounding landscape seems to enter the home through the enormous windows in the dining area.

Alongside the renovation of the modern parts the historic features were also carefully restored to immaculate condition. For example, the unusual little window in the floor of the dining-room provides a view of the old well that collects rainwater; still used today for watering the lawn, it is a precious link to the site’s history.

This skilful renovation has transformed the farmhouse into a modern, comfortable home which gives due prominence to both its own historic features and the breath-taking beauty of the natural surroundings.

Photographs: Cristina Galliena Bohman