Cotto di te.
Working in the historic center is always a fascinating challenge and a great responsibility especially if you are in Firenze.
Via degli Orti Oricellari is a road that connects Borgo Ognissanti to the Santa Maria Novella Station by tangling the garden of Orti Oricellari from which it takes its name.
The apartment in question is situated on the first floor of an ancient building dating back to the 19th century.
Its location allows the view of the garden and an excellent exposure to natural light.
The current plan does not represent the original configuration, but is the result of a series of changes that have adapted the interior spaces to the needs of people who have lived there over the time.
At the time of the survey, the building was in a state of neglect, the wattle ceilings partially collapsed, and their restoration was hardly imaginable.
A layer of linoleum suffocated a messed up flooring in colored stoneware tiles dating back to the 1940s.
Traces of ancient wall decorations hardly surfaced beneath layers of yellowed gouache that in some places detached from the wall.
The intent was to carry out an architectural clarification aimed at preserving the character of the apartment by taking advantage of all the existing elements and assembling them in order to form a narrative from preceding to future conditions.
The remaining part of the wattle ceiling has therefore been removed, while the horizontal wooden rafts of the ceiling structure have been white painted.
The ancient frescoes have been resurfaced and the their better preserved parts have been framed by the new whitewashing.
Finally, a new paving of Impruneta terracotta tiles has been created, running without discontinuity through-out all the rooms of the unit.
Because of the importance of this material along with the presence of wall decorations we refrained from using additional materials other than white paint.
In fact the back of the kitchen, the bathroom and all the custom made furnishing of the unit have been white painted.
