In the Porta Romana district of Florence, Palazzina Maresa takes shape through the transformation of a family residence dating back to 1926 into a contemporary hospitality project that weaves together design, memory, and cultural research. Inaugurated on June 14, 2025, the building now hosts eight residential units, each entrusted to an emerging Florentine designer, alongside shared spaces and Italian-style gardens conceived as places for gathering, exhibition, and cultural production.
The project originates as a tribute to Maresa, the grandmother who lived in the building for over eighty years. This emotional bond translates into a precise design choice: preserving the original architectural features of the palazzina and its welcoming spirit, while reinterpreting them through a contemporary language. The result is a coherent yet heterogeneous ensemble, in which each unit develops its own identity while contributing to a shared narrative deeply rooted in the Florentine context.
The guiding thread of the intervention is a dialogue with the 1920s, the period in which the building was constructed. Materials and craftsmanship from the Tuscan territory become central design tools: marble, stone, and historic plasters brought back to light establish a direct relationship with the memory of the place. The interiors retain high ceilings and period details, while the compositional choices evoke references to architecture, visual arts, and even the cinema of the era.
Within this framework sits the project by AFSa, which intervenes in a 29 sqm unit by reinterpreting early 20th-century aesthetics. The proposal rereads the 1920s through the lens of “Ornament and Crime” by Adolf Loos, creating a refined and sensual atmosphere in which the polychrome marble floor becomes the generative element of the space.
CREDITS
Project: Palazzina Maresa – AFSa unit
Studio: AFSa (Antonio Acocella, Pietro Seghi)
Location: Florence, Italy
Year: 2023–2024
Photography: Lorenzo Zandri
