Casa Argentario — Compact Holiday Living With Boat-Inspired Detail
Casa Argentario transforms a compact apartment inside an early-1900s villa in Monte Argentario, Italy, into a bright, seaworthy retreat by Costanza Santovetti Studio. The renovation turns 70 square meters into a flexible holiday home with boat-inspired solutions and a red, white, and blue palette that nods directly to the nautical setting just beyond the windows.
Light washes across white resin flooring as the villa’s second-floor apartment opens toward the Argentario sea. A long pietra serena bench traces the view and anchors daily life.
Here, a compact holiday retreat works hard through every season, its 70 square meters tuned by Costanza Santovetti Studio to carry multiple guests with boat-like efficiency. The apartment in Monte Argentario, Italy, sits within an early-1900s villa, yet the interior shifts to an agile, contemporary rhythm centered on color, storage, and adaptable furnishings.
What was once a simple layout becomes a more layered home, now organized as two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, and a walkthrough kitchen set into the corridor. Every room shares a red, white, and blue palette that draws from nautical references and ties together custom cabinetry, cement tiles, and compact sleeping arrangements suited to a coastal holiday routine.
Nautical Palette In Motion
Color moves through the apartment like a route map, marking thresholds and uses with crisp precision. White walls and resin flooring keep light fluid, while red and blue accents sharpen corners and cabinetry. The scheme recalls the maritime world yet stays restrained, allowing the sea beyond the windows to hold the brightest hue.
In bedrooms, horizontal bands of color define volumes and visually lower storage elements, giving slender rooms a calmer proportion. The same tones return in bathroom finishes and the corridor kitchen, so circulation reads as part of the living area rather than leftover passage.
Custom Furnishings As Infrastructure
Built-in furnishings work like the interior of a boat, compressing several functions into single, carefully dimensioned pieces. Cabinetry is drawn to the centimeter, creating deep drawers, integrated lighting, and concealed storage that holds holiday equipment without visual clutter. Light, foldable pieces sit in front, ready to move as groups expand or contract.
Along the sea-facing wall, the pietra serena bench-storage unit becomes the quiet workhorse of the living area. It acts as seating for gatherings, as a continuous surface for books or drinks, and as the plinth for the restored wood-burning fireplace that anchors evenings when the weather turns.
Corridor Kitchen As Living Room
The once residual corridor now carries the kitchen and a good share of daily life. Blue cement tiles underfoot and on select surfaces clearly mark this linear room, shifting tempo between entry and living area. A mirrored backsplash folds the corridor outward, doubling depth and catching light from adjacent windows.
Custom cabinetry runs wall to wall, tucking in appliances and storage while maintaining a clean, continuous line. The insert of patterned cement tiles within the white resin floor signals the kitchen zone, so a narrow passage becomes a generous, usable living stretch rather than a simple link.
Compact Rooms, Flexible Routine
Each bedroom balances sleep, storage, and washing within a tight footprint suited to visiting guests. In the main bedroom, the washbasin stands inside the room itself, reducing pressure on the bathroom and framing a compact morning ritual. The second bedroom folds a bunk bed into the wall, freeing floor area for luggage or play when the beds are not in use.
Bathrooms and the small laundry room complete a circuit that supports year-round living rather than short stays. Light furnishings in the living area fold and stack with minimal effort, so the apartment shifts quickly between quiet off-season weekends and lively summer weeks with friends.
Just outside, Cannelle beach sits a short walk away, with its medieval tower and breezy shoreline echoing the maritime palette inside. The apartment holds those cues without mimicry, letting color, texture, and built-in pieces do the quiet work of adaptation. From morning light on the resin floor to evening fire in the hearth, Casa Argentario stays ready for the next tide of guests.
Photography by ELLER Studio / Serena Eller Vainicher
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