![]() At Home in Italy showcases a sumptuous selection of the country’s most beautiful houses, described beautifully by the Editor of AD Italia, Nicoletta del Buono, and captured by photographer Massimo Listri. As del Buono’s text makes clear, as varied as traditional Italian approaches to design are—each unique to its region—they are nevertheless easily identifiable as Italian. With over two hundred stunning color photographs of thirty houses, ranging from sweeping panoramas to close-ups of specific rooms, furniture, and design details, this compelling book highlights the merging of traditional settings and modern comforts that epitomizes Italian style. At Home in Italy has something to offer to every lover of Italy and interior design. ![]() Tuscan Elements brings to life the colors, textures, and aesthetics of the Tuscan house—the magnificent stone and marble work; the hardwoods like chestnut, oak, and elm; earthy terra-cotta and brick; and the all-important water feature, used in ponds, fountains, and pools. This unique, visual sourcebook deconstructs the typical Tuscan home and examines its basic components in dazzling detail. Photographer Simon McBride illustrates these magical elements which you can use to infuse both your home and garden with a little bit of Tuscany. This book is a must-have for a source of never-ending inspiration. ![]() Italian Rustic is a step-by-step guide to recreating the romance and appeal of the weathered Italian farmhouse. This nuts-and-bolts guide to building Italian-style affords the reader all the elements to create their own rustic Italian home, from stone walls to artisanal stucco wall finishes. Author Elizabeth Minchilli is an American designer based in Rome and Tuscany, says of her readers, "People are hungry to know how terra-cotta tiles were laid, or how fireplaces were built." she says. A collaboration with her Italian architect husband, the team created a book that explains in clear details, along with photos and drawings, how to lay a tile floor a la Italiana, or add a Tuscan-style pergola to any garden, and much more. With more than 300 stunning photographs shot on location in Tuscany and Umbria, the book contains profiles of local artisans, engaging text on how the farmhouse style evolved, and targeted advice on how Americans can find Italian-style building materials and craftsmen close to home. Definitely a must-have in your Italian style collection! ![]() This is Elizabeth Minchilli's first book, a breathtakingly photographed volume that offers inside and outside inspirations from twenty-two lovingly restored Italian homes--labors of love by people whose passion for Italy just couldn't be ignored. Owners and designers share anecdotes about their experiences with local artisans, vendors, and bureaucracy, while offering real-world advice on the tactics of restoring a house in a foreign country. Whether you plan to embark on a complete redesign or renovation of your own home, home owners and dreamers alike will value the information presented in Restoring a Home in Italy. This is a book is a lush and beautiful inspiration for designing your own piece of Italy in your own home. ![]() For centuries, the romance and sumptuous style of Venice has been well known.This book invites us into the extravagant interiors and secret gardens where Venetians have forged an inspiring approach to living and entertaining in grand Old World style surrounded by water. This superbly photographed book takes the reader behind the fabulous facades of Venice to explore its grand interiors and local cuisine. Featuring lively anecdotal text and stunning color photographs of private interiors otherwise not open to the public, and including recipes from Venice and the surrounding Veneto region, this beautifully illustrated volume is essential for anyone who has fantasized about living in one of the world’s most romantic cities, or recreating this style in their own homes. Venice, the Art of Living is an enchanting volume for anyone interested in interior design of this noble city. ![]() Inside Milan ventures behind closed doors in this unique cultural capital that is renowned as a world leader in fashion, design, art, and industry. From sophisticated clean lines and muted tones to rooms bursting with art and color, the palazzos and apartments showcased in this stunning volume uncover the creative heart of this vibrant and cosmopolitan metropolis. Nicolò Castellini Baldissera’s carefully curated collection of interiors features the homes of an array of leading creatives of Milan society. With a cloth binding featuring an original Fornasetti drawing, gilded embossed type, and masterful color photographs by Guido Taroni, Inside Milan provides rare insights into the Milanese lifestyle. ![]() Living in the Alps explores the unique architecture of the Italian Alps, where the context of the surrounding landscape is strongly integrated within the cozy, rustic interiors. . The houses published in this volume are all located in the Alps along the Italian border. They have been renovated and redeveloped, their interior spaces demolished and rethought. Francesca Neri Antonello is a master of domesticating natural and raw materials, using them to create a warm intimacy that is indispensable for designing the interiors of those who live with the cold alpine temperatures. Her projects center around stone, iron, and above all wood, which is often recovered or burned to obtain the characteristic burnished color. The author brings together design thinking, craftsmanship, and a strong empathy with her clients. Each element of the interior is designed specifically for each space: furniture, doors, stairs, fireplaces, lamps. Each accessory is chosen with care, interpreting the personal needs of those who will live in the house. The enveloping atmospheres are enhanced by the fabrics and the skillful combination of artificial and natural light. ![]() Lower Salento, the so-called “heel of Italy” in the Puglia region, is bordered by two seas, the Adriatic and the Ionian. The area is strongly characterized by the silvery greens of endless olive groves, the red earth, the warm shades of limestone, the dazzling white of the walls painted in lime, the intense blue of the sea, and the light of the south that envelops everything. In recent years, both Puglia and the Salento have been discovered by an international public that understands its uniqueness and has chosen it as an ideal place for a retreat. Rural houses and old regal palazzi, with star vaulted ceilings, have been carefully restored and transformed into private homes of great beauty. This book selects some of the most elegant and original of these: farms and historic buildings that differ in terms of their age, style, and taste, but all of which offer the Mediterranean charm of that preserved corner of Puglia. All the homes have been freshly photographed by Filippo Bamberghi, with views and decorative details of the houses and glimpses of the surrounding landscape. The text by journalist Patrizia Piccinini, based on interviews with the owners of the houses, recounts the history of the buildings, the genesis of the projects, and the bond between the owners and the territory. If you love the laid back, white chic of Puglia, you'll love this book. ![]() Puglia is located on Italy’s sun-drenched coast (the Spur to Heel) and is where you will find many restored Masseria--large farmhouse complexes--inspirations to all those who love rustic living. Surrounded by verdant vineyards and groves of olive trees, the Masserie of Puglia are historic, often walled compounds of the past, some dating back to the Middle Ages. It is a very different environment and architectural style found nowhere else in Italy. Once serving as farmhouses and way stations for those traveling along the Via Appia, these buildings have been renovated to serve as private residences or boutique hotels, with their beautifully preserved interiors thoughtfully adapted and turned into a cool serenity. Simultaneously austere and luxurious, the simple yet spacious rooms retain their original charm, including stone kitchen fireplaces, arched hallways, and magnificent marble floors. The buildings themselves are dazzlingly white backdrops of medieval stucco and stone. Richly contextualized with original essays by architect and scholar Diane Lewis, and photos by Mark Roskams, Masseria, the Italia Farmhouses of Puglia will inspire interior lovers with the details of this unique and rustic architectural style. --Jerry Finzi
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![]() You're driving through the winding back roads of Tuscany and suddenly you find you're at the top of a hill looking out to an amazing vista. There is one solitary tree with a rusting, forgotten bicycle leaning against it. Nature has taken over, covering it with vines and wildflowers. Birds are using it as a temporary perch as they look for their next meal buzzing by... If you have an old, wreck of a bicycle, you can bring some of this romantic feeling into your garden, creating a two-wheeled, flower planter. During normal times, when there are no stay-at-home orders and no corona virus to contend with, you could look for a rusty old cycle at garage sales and flea markets. But if you take occasional "lost drives" (as my son and I do just to get out of the house for a hour or so), you just might see an appropriate bicycle tossed away for trash at the curbside, as I did during the last week during one of our short excursions. We saw two such throwaway bikes. What else do people have to do nowadays but clean out their garages and sheds? Spray paint it red, yellow or a striking blue--tires too! If it's rusty enough, just leave it as is. Use old baskets, bins, wooden boxes or even paint cans attached to the front and rear wheel racks, line them with plastic trash bags with holes punched in for drainage. For an authentic, Italian look, use old wooden fruit boxes and paint Italian words like "fiore", "il giardino" or "bicicletta" or "Villa (your surname)" on the sides. Fill with planting soil and a teaspoon of Soil Moist with lots of trailing plants, like sweet potato vine, and flowers, such as begonias, geranium, zinnia or marigold in a variety of colors. The Soil Moist will retain water as its crystals swell up like little gelatin water sacs, allowing you to water less often. Don't forget to feed with a fertilizer high in potassium (for flower production). Lean your cycle-garden against your mailbox or lamppost, against a stone wall or tree, or hang it on the wall of your she-shed or on a rustic fence. Keep in mind that Italian gardeners are opportunistic, turning all sorts of things into planters (in one case I know, an old cement mixer) and planting every inch of their often small spaces. If you take this same attitude, you can add some Italian flavor to your own Giardino di Villa... Happy Planting! #wewillgetthroughthis #forzaitalia #italianstyle #gardening #italiangardens --Jerry Finzi ![]() Whether you're Voyaging through Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Puglia or Sicily, you will inevitably come across the most beautiful floral displays in hanging wall pot gardens. The kaleidoscope of colors is often dizzying, and the collection of interestingly shaped terracotta pots along with the texture of old stone walls only add interest. Although many plants are hung in more common hanging baskets from metal arm brackets or on balconies, the unusual thing for Americans to see is pots hanging directly on the walls of houses. And it's not just one pot but often dozens creating texture and color on the side of a home. It's easy to get this look in your home garden, if you use the right brackets and choose plants carefully. ![]() Geraniums are one of the more common plants you will see on walls and balconies in Italy. They continue to bloom until frost arrives. In southern Italy, the plant continues to thrive and bloom year-round. Able to grow in most soil types, geraniums have few problems and will give even more blooms by picking off spent blooms and keeping the plant fertilized, so don't plant them too high. ![]() Dahlias grow from tubers that must be dug up and stored during very cold winters. They come in a kaleidoscope of colors with the shorter varieties doing very well in pots (they love well drained soil). Just don't let them dry out repeatedly and remember to regularly fertilize during the growing season. ![]() Petunias grow very well in hanging pots, especially the trailing types. They will need water every day, lots of fertilizer and benefit (like most annual flowering plants) from pinching off the dead blooms (which prevents them from going to seed, which takes energy from the flowering process). And don't forget to plant some Calibrachoa, which look like small petunias but are a different genus. Like petunias, they come in a wide range of colors. ![]() Fuchsia is a wonderfully varied flower to grow in wall pots, its bell shaped pods dangling and opening to reveal a very complex flower shape. They come in many different types... from pastels to powerful blues and reds, some ruffly and others like delicate butterflies. And if you want to attract hummingbirds, this is the flower to grow. If you cook with herbs (as any good Italian does), planting some of your favorite herbs in your hanging wall garden is a great option. Many herbs require good drainage and soil that's not too high in nutrients, like sage, thyme, or oregano. The wall is a perfect environment, in fact, many herbs in Italy grow naturally in cracks in craggy walls. Since mint is usually a runner, often turning into a garden weed, growing it up on your wall is a great way to control its rambunctiousness. For things like basil or parsley, which need more nitrogen (for leaf growth) and water, plant them in a richer, water retaining soil. You can even add some Soil Moist water retention crystals to your soil mix. Plant these pots lower down so you can easily snip what you need before preparing dinner. Growing Tips
If you don't have a sunny wall or expensive terracotta or ceramic wall pots, be creative --use a fence or put your plants in other things that can make a fun plant container. Here are some hanging pots, brackets and other things to get you started. Click on each photo to see them on Amazon. --GVI
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