Nicola and Cristina founded the Amici di Gabriele Mattera association to preserve and share their father’s works; This year, they expanded it to establish the Fondazione Carin e Gabriel Matera. New collaborations with other institutions are bringing contemporary artists to the castle, including Allegra Hicks, who took over the Church of the Immaculate Conception last year with her exhibition, Divinazion. ‘I vividly remember the restoration of the church in 1979, when I was 10,’ says Nicola. ‘It was destroyed and my father bought several pieces to remake the structure. They carried everything here on foot. He had the idea of bringing modern art into space and put all his energy into it.’
Fascinated by the constant restoration work around his house, Nicola developed an interest in architecture. He went to study in Naples and at 18 was thrown into his first major project: designing Il Monastero Hotel in a 16th-century convent. ‘In the beginning, it was very difficult,’ he admits. ‘But, in a way, it was for the better, because I was naturally free to create.’
Prior to this intervention, tourists wishing to stay were provided with sheets and candles for the night at the convent, and the hotel still maintains this simplicity today, where nothing exists. But given the pride of place here, you can see the meticulous taste and vision behind it all.
Nicola and Christina have also added a restaurant and café within the kitchen garden, using produce from the kitchen garden and working with a new generation of young farmers as agriculture has been revived on the island. ‘The most important thing for me is to maintain the atmosphere,’ says Nicola. ‘For example, even though the restaurant doesn’t have many tables, there is space and we are booked all summer. Not to add more rooms to the hotel. I want silence; To make people feel the place. When I asked my father how to choose what to do next, he always said, “Don’t worry, the castle will choose.”‘ It’s no small task—it just takes generations of devotion.
Ways and means
Rooms at Il Monastero cost from €150, B&B and tasting menus at La Cucina del Monastero from €110 (ilmonasterocastelloaragoneseischia.com). Castello Aragonese is the site of the annual Ischia Film Festival and has a program of art exhibitions (castelloaragoneseischia.com).
