When a building is lucky enough to sit somewhere as extraordinary as the Amalfi Coast, it would be a crime against design not to bring those magnificent surroundings inside. Gio Ponti knew it when he created the hotel Parco Dei Principi in Sorrento in 1960, and Annarita Aversa was wise enough to follow his approach when she updated this 1950s villa nearby.
The founder of design studio Architetti Artigiani Anonimi was commissioned by a local businessman who she describes, charmingly, as being ‘in love with this territory’. ‘He heard about me and my similar passion for the Amalfi Coast from mutual friends,’ she explains, adding ‘he gave me a few functional ideas and then I had total freedom to express my own’.
The villa sits in a lush botanical garden that was originally laid out by the Bourbons at the end of the 18th century. On the other side of the park is the hotel, which Ponti famously filled with graphic blue-and-white tiles to reflect the brilliant skies and glittering water just outside the windows.
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‘In a place like this, you want to be outdoors between the sky, the sea and the garden, under a bright sun,’ Annarita observes. ‘I sought continuity with the outside by selecting natural materials and colours.’
The first step for Annarita, though, was to remove all the internal partition walls. Opening up the space paradoxically made it feel more contemporary, while also returning it to its original plan.
Now, a dining room, kitchen, two lounges and a studio all flow easily into one another, unified by glossy, celadon-green tiles laid in an abstract arrangement, which flow like cracked ice across the ground floor. Annarita wanted to evoke the outdoor flooring used locally, laid in the opus incertum (irregular work) style, referring to the ancient Roman construction technique where uncut stones were placed randomly.
The designer also commissioned three site-specific artworks for the villa: the Piera Mautone piece on the chimney breast in the living room, Sandro Mautone’s ceramic panels depicting a mythological scene set in the mosaic walls of the sauna, and the painted geometric panels above the sofa by Giuseppe di Costanzo. ‘He synthesises the Sorrento sea, rocks and sky in a harmonious composition of colours and shapes,’ says Annarita.
With its clean lines, geometric shapes and authentic colour palette, there’s a simplicity and sophistication to the scheme of this home that reflects Annarita’s design principles.
Her consistency of approach means that, even though the project took four long years to complete, and despite getting bogged down by bureaucracy and ‘a lot of anxious moments’, Annarita has created a space that truly speaks to its surroundings. Every carefully chosen colour, material and object is deeply connected to the coastal setting. Ponti would be proud. architettiartigianianonimi.com
