Journal
Notes from Casa Andrea.
Stories from three years of restoration in the Puglian countryside — the casale we found, the architect who imagined what it could become, the craftsmen who carried it through. Long-form notes, posted as we make them.
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The brocante method
How a Pugliese villa is being furnished, one Sunday morning at a time. Three years of brocante markets across Puglia, a few dealers we now know by face, the carpenter's bench that became a dining table, and the chair we are still waiting for somewhere we haven't been yet.
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Restoring a barrel vault, two hundred years later
The vault was the only part of Casa Andrea still standing properly when we found her in October 2022. Bringing it back wasn't about making it new — it was about making it visible again. A few notes on lime, stone, and the lessons we got wrong.
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An olive tree at the heart of a house
When Claudio Monnini drew the first sketch of Casa Andrea in August 2022, he placed one olive tree at the very centre of the courtyard. Every line of the project — the two new wings, the pool, the steps — was bent around that one tree. Why we did it that way, and what we learned about building around something older than the wall.
