A thoughtful renovation breathes new life into an 18th-century palazzo apartment on the Amalfi Coast.

Largely open plan, this dual-aspect apartment on the Amalfi Coast has views of the main church to the rear and an uninterrupted stretch of the Tyrrhenian Sea to the front. It has original terracotta floor and earth color A toned, steel-framed mezzanine brings a more modern element to the space. ‘I was hooked from the moment I saw it,’ says Maria, who moved to the region from her family home in Abruzzo when she got married. ‘I liked its scale and volume – qualities I appreciate more than superficial details.’

Built in the 1700s by the noble Roman Braschi clan as a coastal retreat, the palazzo was eventually purchased by the family of Maria’s husband Antonio, who introduced a tall addition at the rear around 1800. Over the years, the apartment has been the home of the city’s bishop and, incongruously, even among locals in 1900, sheltered the region’s itinerant market traders and their stock. By the time Maria first laid eyes on it in 1965, the place was dilapidated; Rows of toilet stalls obscured its scale and its rooms were filled with discarded furniture. ‘But I always hoped I’d be here one day,’ she explains.

The linearity of the steel-frame is softened by the curved wall, the books in its hollow beams projecting dashes of color. Underneath, more books are stored on an antique basin shelf used by guests.

Christopher Horwood

Several decades later, Maria and Antonio consulted the Roman architect Stefano Dorata about reworking the space. However, these plans were put on hold after her husband’s sudden death in 2000 and she was not with him until 2013. Children Grown up and his grandchildren are soon to settle down LondonKay Maria looked once again at the possibility of renovation. ‘It was finally time for me to do something,’ she says. ‘This time, I designed it myself. The key was the idea of ​​fully occupying the apartment – not saving any space for the best but using every space.’

Having always harbored dreams of becoming an architect, Maria envisioned a layout that involved minimal intervention, but involved many clever changes. The original floors were taken up, leveled and returned; The doors were reinforced with steel supports; And the false ceiling was removed. ‘It was hard, expensive and exhausting,’ she recalls. ‘But it also signals the beginning of a new chapter in my life.’

Beneath the dado rails, the walls are painted like marble, a foil to the warm terracotta of the tiled floor, which runs throughout the apartment.

Christopher Horwood