We’ve barely begun and our remodel has become a huge project. It turns out we have way more seismic work than we anticipated, and that sadly means we’re not able to keep many of the original details that drew us to the palazzo in the first place.
The good news is, we’re able to rebuild the staircase and replace the ridiculously steep stairs with a new, functional staircase plus an elevator shaft in the middle that will level out to each floor’s landing. Given that I have had three knee surgeries and a lot of arthritis in my knee, this is one of the reasons we are remodeling this new building and giving up our absolutely beautiful, but very vertical home four doors down in the same village. Another bonus (in theory): we’re getting most of this work covered under the Superbonus.
The bad news is that this scope of work will mean much of what remains of the interior character of the home will be gone. So we are insistent that we save as much as we can and reuse it. We are also fighting against the “let’s make everything sleek and modern” mentality that many Italians seem to have.
I arrived this week, hoping work would be started while I am on site so that I can ensure that certain items get salvaged. What can we keep?
Many of the vaults? Gone. The hand-painted walls and ceilings in a few of the rooms? Gone. The original encaustic tiles? Oh hell no! Those will temporarily be stored in the newly cleaned-out basement and we’ll decide later which rooms to use them in. Other than that, we have some marble sinks that we’ll refinish, the original entry with the pebble mosaic depicting a knight, and these awesome radiators will find a place, even if they are not energy efficient enough to include in our system. Probably can’t save much else other than some knick knacks that we found inside.
We are super bummed, but determined to add some character back in. No PVC doors, we want real wood. Wood clad windows, please. Antique black stone stair treads and aged chestnut beams instead of glue lams. We also know someone who knows a fresco painter so might do something on the ceilings too.
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