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Restoration and conversion of a former monastery into a boutique hotel
Preserving the charm of history, rediscovering the soul of a place and its essential character. Pierattelli Architetture has designed the new boutique hotel Pieve Aldina,
part of the French group Domaine de Fontenille, which stands next to the medieval village of Radda in Chianti, along the Chiantigiana, the ‘wine road’ that connects Florence and Siena.
Surrounded by 40 hectares of olive groves, Pieve Aldina is part of the prestigious Relais&Châteaux collection and has 22 rooms and suites, an outdoor swimming pool, spa and menu prepared by chef Flavio Faedi, who successfully combines haute cuisine and local dishes.
Pierattelli Architetture’s project stems from the conservative renovation of a former episcopal complex made up of three buildings that date back to the twelfth century and cover an area of 2,000 square metres. The main aim was to convey to today’s visitors the identity and uniqueness of an ancient location that has hardly changed over the centuries, where time seems to have stopped. A haven of peace and quiet that in 1043 the Count of Piancaldoli offered as a gift to his wife Aldina Ubaldini, after whom the hotel is now named.
The 22 rooms of the boutique hotel have been created inside these three buildings and the main one, adjacent to the church known as “la Pieve”, has been landmarkerd by the Superintendency. Scrupulously carried out this project by Pierattelli Architetture has maintained and restored the original interior wall decorations on the piano nobile. A stone staircase leads to the first floor, a large space with a coffered wooden ceiling that adds to the warm atmosphere and natural lime walls decorated with neoclassical frescoes that lend elegance and refinement. Like la Pieve, the other two buildings, Studiolo and Conventino, are also enhanced by wonderful wooden ceilings and windows that look out onto unspoilt green countryside.
The interiors are a fusion of stylistic purity and contemporary taste, the furnishings sober with clean lines, and a predilection for earthy colours such as sage green, as well as variations on a theme of beige, white and brown, while the materials chosen are typically local, such as terracotta for the floors, lime plaster for the walls, wood for the fixtures and painted skirting boards: preserved archetypes of Tuscan rural architecture. The walls are given a sophisticated touch by the works of Parisian artist Dune Varela, printed on slabs of Carrara marble, and the herbaria of Stéphanie Montaigu, who pastes images of flowers and ancient sculptures onto the yellowed pages of old books.
The outhouses, where farming tools were once kept and olives were left before pressing, have been transformed into “Le Rondini” restaurant: 100 square metres that play with a balance of old and new, featuring a fabulous vaulted ceiling in iron and terracotta, a traditional material also used for the floor in shades of beige, and contemporary notes such as track lighting. Here Pierattelli Architetture has designed a large opening in the wall that allows diners to watch the chefs at work in the kitchen, as well as a new arched passageway onto the internal courtyard to open the windows and eat outside in fine weather, with tables on the lawn or under the large wisteria. Equipped with two massage rooms, a sauna, Turkish bath and emotional shower, the spa has everything guests need to make their stay even more relaxing and all the windows in this amazing setting look out over a seemingly never-ending landscape of countryside and hills.
