“When I started working on the interior of our mediterranean housejust came from the most exciting experience of my professional life: the restoration of the Teatro Eliseo in Rome, which we had just taken over from the previous management”, says Elena Barbareschi, wife of Luca Barbareschi, the well-known Italian film and theater actor and producer with which, in Filicudi, he has created a place of retreat, relaxation and vacation for the family “For this reason, in every corner of the house, both inside and outside, I have taken care to highlight the environment of very discreetly, because here nature is the main star. It is not easy to buy a house on the Aeolian island. Typical architectures are modular cube-shaped units horizontally or vertically added together, belonging to generations of families. But some are sometimes abandoned, as happened at the end of the 19th century with the Italians who emigrated abroad in search of fortune following phylloxera sickened the vines and thus took away the livelihood of families.
Today they are coveted buildings: “But Luca was determined and over the years he managed to buy three cubes, which are now connected to each other and above all to the outside, and allow us to have a house with the space we need to live and welcome friends even out of season. I arrived when the structure of the houses was already assembled, and I was mainly in charge of assembling the interiors and exteriors, turning them into real rooms to live in”, continues Elena who, by passion and profession, today he is dedicated precisely to interior design. A gem on an island which is a treasure, this structure owes its exclusivity to its location: it is, in fact, inside a typical wind garden, which hides the house and gives privacy but, at the same time, does not deny a incredible view of the sea and infinity thanks to its terraces, which unite the exterior and interior areas to enjoy them all year round. Luca Barbareschi and his wife live in Rome with their two children: “But as soon as we arrive in Filicudi, everything changes: the pace of life first, and then the colors, the smells, the food and even the way of welcoming people. people,” says Elena, who has turned this house into the magical place it is today.
To highlight the maritime atmosphere in the spaces, the hostess has brought together island colors and materials, such as the palettes in white and blue, as well as the typical decorated tiles imported from Naples by the “merchants of the sea” who went there to deliver malvasia and capers, the best in the world. In the transitions from one level of the house to another, the tiles are placed in a “carpet effect”, a kind of contemporary reinterpretation of the floors of the Aeolian houses of the past. While in the living room and kitchen these tiles cover the floors and walls, as is traditional, playing with color combinations. Other materials and objects from family homes and from travel make these places very personal. And then, hand-decorated tiles also on the outside, as decoration for the bisuoli, the white cement benches, polished in the old way, integrated into the architecture. And the typical pottery next door.
In a game between intimacy and sociability, some spaces are more rational and functional, such as the kitchen area and a small breakfast table outside, others, such as the dining room, are generous and open to the landscape, to entertain friends and enjoy the views. “The setting of the house is very discreet, the protagonist is nature,” says Elena, who together with her life partner, Luca Barbareschi, has added furniture and familiar objects that make the space even more welcoming and personal. A family haven between the sky and the sea, intimate and open.
Article originally published in AD Italy.
Translation and adaptation of Fernanda Toral.