Liberty Contemporaneo

Strolling through the streets of Prati takes you back in time to the Rome of the early 20th century. "Prati" refers to the prairies of Castel Sant'Angelo, and it was in this elegant area, to the right of the river Tevere, that a new Savoyan-inspired Rome was born. Prati was the modern district that would house the authorities and employees of the new state, where Umbertine-style buildings and Art Nouveau (in Italy called liberty) villas framed the streets in the shadow of the "cupolone" of St. Peter's Basilica, named after the heroes of the Risorgimento.
At the time, houses were structured as if the corridor were a vertebral column, in which the rooms facing the internal courtyard were the service rooms, i.e. the least representative. On the other hand, the rooms facing the street, where life happens, were considered noble. In our project, we've kept this backbone, but we've subverted it by opening to the world and giving deserved importance to the once less important spaces.
The owners, an American couple who collect antique and contemporary art, immediately embraced the idea. After all, the harmony and interrelationship between classic and modern was our idea for the apartment.
Now, the bedrooms are on the left, while the right has become a place for living and socializing. Previously, each pillar demarcated a room on this side, which was converted into a single living room and kitchen space. It was one of the most labor-intensive stages of the project, but the outcome not only met the clients' wishes and needs, but also satisfied them visually, as the Art Nouveau ceilings, which had previously been worn down, were restored and became an active part of the decor. Still from an aesthetic point of view, we used materials in warm tones that embraced the orange light that only Rome provides. These include a rare Travertine marble from Tivoli and delicate pink marble from Portugal. Not only the ceiling was given a new lease of life, but also the parquet flooring. Using artisanal workmanship and respecting its originality, it was restored and redone directly on the floor where necessary, bringing back the original subdivision of the existing rooms and widening the visual perspective.
The result is a work that respects the personality of the owners and has become, according to them, "our own private oasis in the eternal city".