34
35
FLEXFORM | PAPER
FLEXFORM | PAPER
Le stanze dell’Io. Questa dimora dona un significato profondo al concetto di “stare insieme”.
Basta una grande finestra e una poltrona, come la Crono di Antonio Citterio per rallentare
la corsa del tempo. | Rooms of the Self. This home lends a deeper meaning to the concept
of “being together”. All one needs is a large window and an armchair, like Crono
by Antonio Citterio, to slow the passage of time.
«T
here is always a book
open to all eyes: na-
ture» - wrote Jean-
Jacques Rousseau – but
not everyone can fully
comprehend
it.
One
must read beyond the
horizon, grasp the message of the Mediterrane-
an scrub, follow the slow rhythm of the sun, only
then can they build a home that has everything
it takes to become “second nature”. A little slice
of paradise, where it’s easy to get lost in the az-
ure sky that seems to trace timeless trajectories
aimed at the soul. It was precisely this perspec-
tive, with so many vanishing points, that en-
chanted a Barcelona lawyer who decided to cre-
ate his private retreat here, in the Costa Brava
hills, a stone’s throw from Girona. Fate, however,
reshuffled the cards, and to his advantage. After
the pandemic, the owner found that his business
office, in the heart of the city, could be located
anywhere, even here, where the climate is always
mild and the landscape never rests. The home,
reached by a private road and surrounded by a
garden – that is not a real garden because it is
made of the same Mediterranean vegetation –
seems to rise right out of the earth. So grandiose
and majestic, it merits a closer look – it has sev-
en bedrooms, separate from various private and
shared living spaces – to understand that it is so
lyrically silent, it expresses a luxury that exists
but is never openly stated.
The most priceless aspect of this place lies at its
heart: a scenario of true well-being, an awe-in-
spiring fusion of the majesty of nature and hu-
man ingenuity. A dream villa that, despite ex-
tensive use of traditional materials, gracefully
avoids the risk of appearing rustic.
Here, the mansion and the garden are one; one
cannot exist without the other, and they commu-
nicate through openings in the walls that “create
silence” (in the words of renowned Mexican ar-
chitect Luis Barragán, whose work inspired the
home’s design), to open one up to new experienc-
es of interaction and meditation. Everywhere,
the Mediterranean scrub finds its way inside,
peering in through the generous windows and
infiltrating small private gardens – charming,
shaded spots designed for guests – even to the
pool nestled amid the foliage. A languid slowness
runs through the terraced land and ends its jour-
ney in the dappled shade of the patios that gen-
erate interconnected spaces between one outdoor
lounge and another. Then there are the stone por-
tals, natural plaster finishes on the walls painted
in earth tones, in tribute to the Mexican maes-
tro. Inside and out, the melody of the place is so
strong that, as happens with flamenco, it must
be played softly and, the softer you play, the
more powerful it is. Light floods the rooms with
the same melody, overcoming the few barriers
that act as filters between interior and exterior
spaces. The rhythm of the rooms follows a similar
pattern, one after another, split over two floors,
to follow the lay of the land. Guests are ensured
absolute privacy, with individual bedroom,
bath and sitting room that look onto an inner
plant-filled courtyard. In this most generous
home, the concept of “being together” takes on a
very deep meaning because it also offers areas
for reflection and introspection, in a harmoni-
ous symmetry between human interaction and
one’s inner landscape. A way to discover that
true luxury is nothing more than slowing down
time, between moments stolen from the sun and
weightless silence.
