A space with a strong soul. The first thing you sense when you enter the house in Sogliano Cavour, in the countryside of the province of Lecce, is an intense vibration: the walls and the vaulted ceilings of the old oil mill dating back to the 1600s seem to speak to you, embrace you and envelop you with their stories. Ludovica + Roberto Palomba's project was able to capture this authentic voice of the past and translate it into a contemporary aesthetic language, a temple of purity and elegance in which modern furnishings, and neutral and ethereal colours together with lively contrasts all find their place. The elements are in a continuous dance, and they find their rhythm and balance between seemingly irreconcilable shapes and colours.
The architectural restoration allowed the Salento outskirt’s external landscape to come inside, leaving an indelible mark in the aura of the building. The light penetrates, playing amongst recesses, corners, stairs, corridors and a multitude of large rooms one after the other on several levels, intertwining like luminous caves and winding up from the small cloister. The link with Salento is fully expressed with the star vaulted ceilings, a typical construction technique of the area, and the large terraces that open up to the skies. The materials chosen by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba are mainly of natural origin, echoing the architecture of the building and the surrounding landscape. The Leccese stone in particular becomes an element of connection and transition that refers unmistakably to the genius loci.
The functional revolution of the space plays an equally important role in the total appeal of the project. Turning a once productive space into a domestic one represented both a challenge and a stimulus for the duo of architects and designers. The shining white of the lime on the walls, the shapes and the lines of the furniture elements reveal a vision of interior design that is almost spiritual, in which the functionality and aesthetics of everyday life are elevated to a new dimension of being.The few pieces selected for the interior are a mix that harmoniously combines elements from the design of Ludovica+Roberto Palomba and furniture handed down to the two architects by previous generations of their respective families. The balance that comes from this combination is a space that has a timeless soul.
