A summer house renovation in Italy’s Liguria region

By Molly Malsom

Published: Tuesday, 16 August 2022 at 12:00 am

Enrica Stabile’s summer home in northern Italy couldn’t be in a more beautiful location. Just across the border from France, and not far from the coast, the pretty village of Pantasina is tucked into the Ligurian hillside, surrounded by ancient olive groves. During the blisteringly hot summers, the proximity to the famous Gulf of La Spezia (or Gulf of Poets) is a gift – it’s no surprise that this turquoise bay was once popular with the Romantic poet Lord Byron, as well as Italian scholars Petrarch and Montale. It’s also where the poet Shelley tragically drowned in a shipwreck following a storm in 1822.

Literary connections aside, Enrica was drawn to the area because of the stunning landscape, and she had long wanted to build a dream home of her own nearby.  ‘The view is terrific: a sea of olive trees with the coast in the distance,’ she smiles. The project holds a special significance for Enrica as it was the last that she shared with her husband, who died a few years ago. They managed the entire build together, without the help of architects, and aimed to create the house in a way that was sympathetic to the history and traditions of the area.

They painted the outside walls in a peachy pink to match other houses in the area, and sourced local materials from nearby craftsmen to build the roof and window frames. The project was long and arduous – not helped by the local carpenters insisting on frequent breaks during the regional hunting season. But, after just over a year, Enrica and her husband had created the summer home they had always longed for.

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The house itself is of modest proportions and is divided into two apartments with separate entrances. The ground floor apartment has direct access to the sprawling gardens, while the top floor has its own terrace overlooking the sea, and this is Enrica’s preferred spot. ‘My favourite memories in the property are of eating outside on my sunny terrace,’ she says. The two apartments are similar in structure: with a large central room working as a kitchen, dining room and living space. En-suite bedrooms sit at either end. But it’s the upper apartment that Enrica favours as her ideal summer retreat.

After many years of working as an interior designer and antiques dealer, Enrica has a talent for creating the right atmosphere in a space. ‘It takes courage to kill your darlings, to eliminate those things you like so much but that just don’t fit with the overall environment,’ she says. Her business in Milan is called L’Utile e il Dilettevole – which translates as ‘the useful and pleasurable’.

It’s a sentiment that she has also applied to the decor in her summer home, which is a blend of stylish and useful pieces. She’s proud of the fact that the house is difficult to define. And, although her antiques span many eras, they all have practicality in common – from the painted dresser-cum-bookshelf in the master bedroom, to the reclaimed industrial bobbin used as a dining table on the terrace. Enrica is a self-confessed lover of ‘old stuff’ and chooses to source pieces from both antiques dealers and flea markets. ‘I like Gustavian and French Directoire pieces the most,’ she explains. ‘Lots of the antiques in the house are from the south of France, which I visit often.’

Other furnishings are a mixture of items from Enrica’s previous homes, pieces inherited from family and things she sourced for her interiors business in Milan, but simply couldn’t bear to part with. Most notably, there’s the Gustavian sofa in the living room, which was initially bought for her shop. It’s not especially comfortable, Enrica admits, but it’s beautiful to look at.

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However, perhaps the greatest constant in Enrica’s home is her use of colour: soothing tones of blue, white and grey unify the rooms, creating a look that’s cohesive and stylish. The jumping off point for this was the sofa in the living room. ‘It was an old piece that belonged to my mother. She had covered it in a blue and white striped fabric, which was ideal for my colour scheme,’ she says. ‘I chose the palette very carefully as I wanted cool colours for a Mediterranean house.’

The various shades of blue are echoed most obviously in the open-plan living space, which includes an old family Bohemian chandelier made of cobalt crystal, reclaimed kitchen tiles found at a French flea market, and a set of rustic curtains, lovingly stitched together from blue-edged vintage tea towels. ‘I love these colours,’ explains Enrica. ‘This mid-toned palette is comforting and keeps me in a good mood.’

Sadly, this may be Enrica’s last summer spent at her Ligurian escape, as she feels the house is too big for her to live in alone, and her children aren’t able to visit often enough to warrant the size. She is hoping to sell it soon and is already imagining building a small antiques-filled space for herself at the borders of the property. But she will always think of this house with fondness. While she and her husband had initially planned for a minimalist space in a single colour, their summer home developed into something far more meaningful. It became an exploration of her romantic nature, she says, and she filled it with the antiques that she loves. ‘A house is like a safe haven,’ she smiles. ‘It must feel good as soon as you enter it, like putting on your favourite dress.’

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The design of Enrica’s Ligurian holiday home is sympathetic to the surrounding countryside and houses. The walls are painted a traditional shade and the roof slates and window frames were all sourced from local craftspeople.
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Enrica’s kitchencum-living space in the upper apartment is filled with antiques she has lovingly collected over the years, including French folding chairs, an inherited Bohemian blue crystal chandelier and reclaimed floor tiles from France. Curtains made from vintage tea towels conceal the under-counter shelves.
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The patterned blue tiles in Enrica’s kitchen were a lucky find at a flea market in the south of France.
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The French plates on the walls are also antique, while the doors are reclaimed.
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The majority of things in Enrica’s summer home were sourced from flea markets in France, or via her interior design business. This antique Herend coffee set, however, was inherited from her grandmother. It takes pride of place in the white glazed cabinet in her living room.
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Enrica’s living room is calm and considered, layered with rustic antiques and fabrics in soothing hues that make the space feel light and airy. ‘I chose shades of white, grey and blue very carefully because I wanted cool colours for a Mediterranean house,’ she says.
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The guest bedroom is a study in shades of sage, the starting point for which was the antique green-grey lacquered bed.
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A view from the hallway through to the guest bedroom, flooded with natural light. All of the doors in the property are antique and came from one of the regular suppliers used for Enrica’s interior design business.
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A hero piece in the guest bedroom, this lacquered Victorian chest of drawers was sourced from an antiques shop in London. It is hand-painted with colourful flowers and songbirds.
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Almost everything in Enrica’s home is antique, including most of the fabrics.
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The soothing blue and white colour scheme is carried through to the master bedroom, where the bed is layered with vintage fabrics.
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A large dresser commands the room and is filled with a selection of Enrica’s flea-market curios. The enormous blue and white Indian dhurrie (a heavy, flatwoven cotton rug) echoes the tones in the rest of the house. It was bought at Guinevere in London.
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Shelves lined with antique books nod to the region’s connection to literature: Liguria was a popular destination for Romantic poets and writers.
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Red and white striped curtains, created from a mixture of antique and contemporary fabrics, are used to disguise shelving in the family bathroom. Enrica has an eye for spotting practical, yet beautiful, antiques for her home, such as this large ornamental mirror.
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These pretty salvaged tiles add a note of colour to her industrial-style concrete twin basins.
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The blue and green furniture on Enrica’s sundrenched terrace was sourced from local antiques fairs. The oversized bobbin was once used to store electrical cables – now Enrica uses it as an outdoor dining table.
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