Architecture is a complex phenomenon, even more articulated than painting and sculpture.
Villa Frascoli is a Liberty-style residence designed by architect Piero Portaluppi in the 1920s. Since then the building has overlooked the small gulf of Laveno on Lake Maggiore, its main façade facing south-west onto a panoramic terrace above the water.
The villa is divided into two independent apartments over two floors, plus a basement for the kitchen and service rooms and an attic level. Inside, refined sgraffito decorations in umber and sienna earth tones, lozenge motifs, lilies and scrolls blend a fifteenth-century taste with Baroque aesthetics and Art Nouveau accents.
Outside, lime-plaster balustrades, wrought-iron Liberty railings and a park of centuries-old trees lead the eye from the gulf up to the Sasso del Ferro, over a thousand metres high.
The villa's restoration
Villa Frascoli required a major work of restoration and renovation, replacing components and installing new systems. The commitment was to renew the building while respecting its original features, which were at risk of being compromised. The preliminary design also had to account for the energy upgrade of the property, reconciling it with the constraints of restoring the architecture and its decorative elements. The effort was to keep the original layout unchanged, adapting it to the needs of contemporary use.