Private Villa by ANDstudio Architects
Private Villa stands on the hills above Castellina Marittima, Italy, where ANDstudio Architects guide the restoration of a historic house into a layered rural retreat. The project pairs renewed structure and a new pool with expressive interiors, folding contemporary art, saturated color, and generous volumes into the villa’s long, arched rooms. Visitors move through vaulted halls and bright salons that keep the building’s past in view while easing present-day country life.
Morning light draws a bright line across the vaulted ceilings, then falls onto patterned rugs and deep armchairs grouped at the center of the room. From the windows, tree trunks frame the view, while sculptural lamps and bold art pull attention back to the interior.
This historic house in Castellina Marittima is restored by ANDstudio Architects as a private villa that balances structural repair, renewed facades, and an interior renovation. The work concentrates on how people live inside the large rooms every day, from the kitchen and dining hall to bedrooms, corridors, and baths. Furniture, color, and art set the tone, while a new pool and its ancillary rooms extend life outward into the countryside.
Color Grounds The Rooms
In the main sitting room, creamy walls and a vaulted ceiling create a quiet shell for vivid pieces: blue poufs, a striped rug, and a vivid sculptural figure. Seating mixes classic armchairs with more relaxed chairs, each upholstered in different fabrics that lend a lived-in rhythm rather than a matched set. A tall window centers the arrangement, with casual objects on the sill reinforcing the lived character of the villa.
The kitchen keeps the same arched envelope but shifts the palette to pale green cabinetry and stone counters with soft veining. A sculptural brass pendant hangs low over the island, its warm light against the high ceiling giving the room an intimate scale. Artwork along one wall, bright and graphic, turns the long galley into a place to linger rather than just prepare meals.
Art Marks The Sequence
Moving through the house, art and objects act as companions that define each room’s mood. The dining hall centers on a long wooden table flanked by mismatched chairs, while a carved mirror, slender sculpture, and table lamps collect near the window. Each element reads as part of a domestic still life, giving the tall volume a human pace.
At the stair, an abstract light trace follows the contour of the wall, echoing the sweep of the iron handrail. A white sculptural figure stands at the base, facing the ascent, turning this functional junction into a small gallery. The corridor above stretches under a barrel vault with a long green runner, benches, small artworks, and sculptural pieces punctuating the walk toward daylight at the far end.
Quiet Bedrooms And Baths
In the bedroom, color softens and deepens, with cool walls, a large blue rug, and a patterned chaise near the window. Curtains fall from the vault to the floor, catching light and shadow through the day and reinforcing the vertical sweep of the room. A decorative wall covering at the head of the bed introduces imagery yet keeps the atmosphere gentle.
Bathrooms maintain the same calm, using plastered walls, built-in shelves, and generous walk-in showers behind low partitions. A floral rug adds warmth underfoot, contrasting with the pared-back fittings and simple basins. Open storage niches leave towels and baskets in view, echoing the villa’s overall mix of practical comfort and visual richness.
Pool Life Outside
Beyond the restored facades, new outdoor rooms gather around a broad swimming pool set in stone paving. Low, colorful loungers sit close to the water, their soft forms mirrored in the calm surface. A small stone outbuilding anchors the ensemble, tying the new work back to traditional rural construction.
Planting softens the edges of the terrace, with gravel beds and low shrubs sliding into the surrounding hills. This exterior setting extends the villa’s interior character outdoors, where color, texture, and comfortable furnishings shape how guests spend long days in the sun.
As light fades, the vaulted interiors hold a gentle glow that spills onto the paths leading to the pool. The house reads as both historic and resolutely lived in, with every room tuned to contemporary routines. Through structure, art, and everyday objects, the restored villa supports slow, generous rhythms of rural life.
Photography courtesy of ANDstudio Architects
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