Language switcher

Category: Art

The Story of a Millennial Castle “Brought Back” to Italy

Posted on by Teruzzi

Collection Luxury Lifestyle Magazine #4 Aprile 2024


We are proud to celebrate, with this story, a truly Italian victory aimed at safeguarding the precious real estate heritage of our country. We are talking about the “reconquest” of the famous Castello di Serravalle, first sold to an American and later repurchased by the Giuliani family, originally from Zocca in the province of Modena. The castle is located in a medieval village on the border between the Bologna and Modena areas, in the Samoggia valley, where the historic Boccadiferro palace stands, named after the noble family that owned it until the late 19th century. A palace that combines history, art, and music, and part of the opera Love and Death by the Lucca-born composer Gaetano Luporini is also set within its walls. Then, in 1846, the wedding of Gioachino Rossini and Olimpia Pellissier was celebrated in the ground floor hall.

The place where it stands is called Castello di Serravalle, a municipality of nearly 5,000 inhabitants in the town of Valsamoggia, in the metropolitan city of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The American who had purchased the castle was captivated by the property for its location in the village, which rises on Roman foundations, preserving fascinating tales and curious legends.
It was the Giuliani family that brought the castle back to Italy after a significant bidding process and negotiations with the previous buyer, who in turn had purchased Palazzo Boccadiferro from a historic local family. The success of the deal (whose details remain confidential) can be credited to a true “Italian job”—an all-Italian team effort that celebrates the collaboration between Alberto Bignardi, a Collection real estate agent from the RE/MAX group (also president of the FIAIP real estate agents in Modena and broker-owner of RE/MAX Unicorn), and the law firm Picozzi & Morigi of Rome (where Chiara Catalani, Nicola Picozzi, and Daniele Avena worked together), all finalized by the notary from Naples, Francesco Capezzuto, who drafted the transfer deeds. In short, it was a team effort stretching from Naples to Modena, passing through Rome and landing in Serravalle.

Entirely human-sized, walkable in less than an hour, this place primarily expresses the charm of its antiquity, enriched by numerous legends, including the one that tells of a stop by Charlemagne during his journey to Rome. In the Romano-Byzantine era, known as Verabulum, the village was one of the key points of the fortifications intended to protect the Empire’s borders. Fortified at 320 meters above sea level, it was conquered and destroyed by the Lombards in the 13th century A.D., only to be rebuilt on its ancient foundations in the 9th century.
Until 1109, it remained a fiefdom of Matilda of Canossa, and then it was contested, due to its strategic military importance, between Ghibelline Modena and Guelph Bologna. Today, thanks to ongoing restoration efforts, the complex hosts important events, increasingly fostering the development of traditional local activities, which have now become well-established realities. The Castello di Serravalle is undoubtedly one of the oldest buildings ever sold in Italy. Its sale is a testament to professionalism, highlighting the effectiveness of a marketing project based on functional, innovative, and compelling strategies. Starting from the organization of events aimed at promoting the sale (it was the first Open Castle in Italy, with a tour led by historian Michele Luppi and archaeologist Giulia Prampolini), commercial resources were employed to ensure the interests of all parties involved in the transaction.

A true success, amplified by the statements of the new fortunate owner: “Our family has always been in love with this land and its history. The awareness of the uniqueness of this village, and specifically of Palazzo Boccadiferro, pushed us to take this important and ambitious step. The feeling that accompanied us in this decision is affection, a deep connection with the land where we live. Having ‘brought back’ the castle to Italy is a great source of pride for us.”

THE SHAPE OF LUXURY

Posted on by Teruzzi

THE SHAPE OF LUXURY
Article from Collection Luxury Lifestyle Magazine #4 April 2024
Texts by ANGELA DI PALMA, MAGDA RUGGIERO Architects

Have you ever wondered how to recognize luxury?

It is an ever-evolving concept, and the analysis of change starts from afar. The term luxury, as described by the Treccani, comes from the Latin “luxus” to mean superabundance and excess. The word may also originate from the Latin “lux” meaning light, indicative of brilliance, as in distinguishing valuable objects such as jewelry and precious stones, and metaphorically becoming a symbol of life, fruitfulness and creation. The term luxury tells therefore of creativity and vital energy, carrying with it not only the apparently distinctive meaning of a social class, but also the expression of a deep meaning related to the concept of being well, seeking excellence in every aspect of daily life.

Time has changed the perception of the meaning of luxury from an unattainable dream to a progressive shift in interest and spending toward experiences rather than luxurious products, representing a phenomenon that expands the perimeter of luxury from objects to services and spaces, placing them in close relation with the world of art, culture and entertainment. The very last few years have seen individuals return to giving the home a value of refuge, bringing back within the domestic walls that need for beauty and essentiality that lead back to distant concepts of simplicity and sobriety characteristic of great masters of late 19th-century architecture such as Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner, exponents of a thought that concretized the perfect synthesis of functionality and aesthetics at the expense of the superfluous and unnecessary ornamentation.

What does luxury represent for us as architects? It is the continuous search for simplification in innovation, stripping beauty of its components of redundancy and ostentation, and returning to work with materials whose value is inherent in their intrinsic nature: the warm wood grain of Albini and Magistretti’s bookcases, the fine grain of the carrara marble of the Arco lamp by the Castiglioni brothers, the worked leather dyed with natural anilines of Jacobsen’s Eggs Chair, the tubular steel of one of Mies van der Rohe’s iconic chairs, and the curved crystal of Livi’s Ragno table are just a few examples of design pieces that express the perfect marriage of form and function. Many call it “technique.” but back in ancient Greece the word “téchne” also defi ned art, the process of ideation and creation, and it is all about knowing how to do things with care and meticulous detail.

Starting from an analysis of the spatial structure of the place and the environmental context that is careful and respectful of the expressive needs of the client, the architectural design must focus on ensuring a connotation of uniqueness through the use of natural materials, colors, furniture and lighting that enhance shapes and volumes by speaking of those who live there. With this in mind, our work as architects in the luxury sphere is expressed in creating original and harmonious living places, paying attention to the elements of nature – light, air, earth and water – used in the pursuit of individual and environmental comfort and well-being. Therefore, our personal commitment is to create architecture that is inspired by natural materials by placing them in refined and sustainable contexts with a special regard for the refinements and construction and decorative details that for us represent the true form of luxury.

The goal with which the design journey is undertaken is thus encapsulated in that emotion that is felt in creating a magical correspondence between function and aesthetics through the use of simple lines and pure materials that, opening up to factors of variability and surprise, create unexpected masterpieces.