Client: private
Location: Cernobbio, Como
Project: 2010-2011
Construction: 2011-2014
Architectural design: Marco Contini with Alessandra Dalloli
Collaborators: Sara Chiari, Matteo Zaccarelli, Carine Aussems, Davide Pelizzi
Garden design: Paolo Pejrone with Franco Brugo
Structures and construction supervision: Ferdinando Brambilla
Mechanical systems: Massimo Bocchi
Electrical systems: Giampaolo Vecchi
Type of intervention: refurbishment and expansion
Functional characteristics: historic villa
Internal surface: 700 mq
Contractor: Ediltecno Restauri s.r.l.
Photographs: Davide Galli
Villa Perti is placed in a dominant position on the first basin of Lake Como at about three hundred meters above sea level from the lake.
The villa is part of a large terraced property on a steep slope. Inside the property, in addition to the villa, there were a series of small buildings with different functions: next to the villa, a porticoed structure probably originally used as a lemon house and then closed on all four sides, lower down, a greenhouse now closed off and at the entrance a building that served as a storage and garage.
The first nucleus seems to find confirmation in the Teresian Cadastre of 1720; it is clearly legible in planimetrically in the central body of the house to which new volumes have been added along the perimeter and the loggia in the southern area.
Considering the particular historical evolution of the building, the project aimed to restore a constructive logic and distribution coherence to the various parts that have followed one another over time, maintaining and strengthening the image of the villa.
The entrance was obtained from the demolition of the old staircase; this intervention has generated a single space that unites the two volumes: the old lemon house which has been transformed into a winter garden and the body of the villa. This filter space is underlined by the presence of a skylight which characterizes it and differentiates it from the rooms of the villa.
The roof, made with a wooden and steel structure, has a large glazed part that brings light into the rooms facing the stairwell.
Slight shifts of the openings were made on the fronts in order to consolidate the image of the villa and at the same time ensure standard lighting of the internal rooms. The entire building was plastered and painted with natural mineral-based products. The facade color was chosen following analysis of the underlying layers in search of the original colour.
The arrangement of the external spaces has particular importance within the project. The recovery plan presented envisaged the enhancement and design of the greenery by the Peirone studio of Turin.
