Caravanserais were one of the first forms of built hostelries. Located initially in Persia and North Africa, they were closed structures with single entrances and large open courtyards, above which travellers in the desert could stay for one or more nights in open seraglios. Travellers could sleep here, deposit their baggage, and rest their animals. In Sicily, caravanserais were in many cases built around pre-existing towers, and it is this Sicilian tradition that the Project Village team has followed in deciding to form an interior courtyard around a pre-existing building, the villa. Thanks to this, a sort of dialogue was able to develop between the intentions of the former builders and the plans of the new settlers. The original idea behind the caravanserai – adapted to local circumstances – which allows people to relax, meet and exchange views, had to be reviewed from time to time, which is how, for example, a tree also became an integral part of the construction though it had originally been in the settlers’ way.