Palazzo Presta, Boutique hotel di charme in Gallipoli, has been transformed by ATELIER P into a relaxing and attractive place that attracts tourists from all over the world through its ancient walls.
Owned in the 18th century by the physician and agronomist Giovanni Presta, in 2017 the building was given a new use without forgetting the spirit that animated this place, when the ancient owner opened the doors to his fellow citizens to dispense care and advice.
That same sense of protection and welcome is reproposed by architects Mattia Pareschi and Luca Piccinno, and interior decorator Alessandro Mario Cesario, who intervened to consolidate the structures, the floors, bringing the Apulian tuff back to the surface, enhancing the vaults, creating volumes that dialogue with the original ones.
The ten rooms – spread over two floors – are eccentric maps, each with its own name and personality, because every detail is studied, composed, even designed for maximum customisation of the environment.
On the ground floor, the lift shaft is built from scratch and looks like a reinforced concrete vault, a graft that underlines the relationship between historical and contemporary in the restyling project.
Materiality is a nerve to be discovered in every corner, revealed in the cement floors, original or new, with different decorations for each room; the choice of glazes guarantees that flavour of lived-in experience which allows AP to venture with colours and textures with a tactile effect.
The bathrooms are cubes placed in space, basic shapes that enhance the expressiveness of the vaults and create an original sequence of forms.
The story of this fascination for an interior that is both nostalgia and modernity continues on the exterior of Palazzo Presta: for the communal terrace on the first floor, Atelier P uses locally manufactured vases and makes them glazed by filling them with large palm trees as a sustainable separé. On the upper level, in addition to the rooms, the sea-view rooftop LAURUS terrace is the place to appreciate the atmosphere of an old travellers’ club, where the Corten steel core of the bar refers to the refined délabré face of the building and the Emperador marble counter to timeless elegance.
And if you really don’t want to go down to the beach, the journey continues on the altana, comfortably reclining on the sun loungers in the solarium, same striped pattern, same comfort.
For more information visit www.atelierp.it.
CREDITS
Project: Palazzo Presta Boutique hotel di charme
Studio: Atelier P
Location: Gallipoli, Italy
Year: 2023
