Villa Serenity and the Boutique in the set of the Musica Leggerissima video

A site near Siracusa in Sicily where a small farmhouse once stood is now the location of a private home, Villa Serenity, with a modern, cubic shape.

The house consists of a large central block with living area, a kitchen, a glazed dining area, 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, as well as a guest annexe with an additional 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

Contemporary architectural lines are combined with large-size floor and wall coverings, local stones and sophisticated materials, such as unusual African timbers with water-based varnish finish typical of Indonesian boats, recalling the owners’ travels in distant lands. The project is one of fluid spaces to be enjoyed all year round.

The airy, functional rooms are interconnected: the porcelain stoneware tiles and the Boutique ceramic slabs by Ceramica del Conca used as outdoor paving give the idea of visual continuity between indoor and outdoor areas. Amani, Onice Fantastico, Noisette and Zebrino are the versions used indoors and outdoors.

The austere marble effect receives warmth from the wood and the large Boutique slabs in the distinctive Onice Fantastico decor used for the showers of the swimming-pool; combined with the trunks of the Strelitzia Augusta plants, it creates an effect of continuity between nature and architecture. A particularly striking scene which provided the set for musical duo Colapesce Dimartino in the video of their Sanremo Italian song festival hit Musica Leggerissima.

The lounge area of the outdoor bar quietly overlooks an eternity pool, its edge constructed with slabs of lava stone from Etna, carefully chosen for their natural elegance and strength and cut and peened by hand to provide an antislip surface.

The entire project, completed in 2021, is however still evolving. Furnishings as well as architecture. The outdoor area is furnished with cabinets already constructed with the slabs of the Boutique collection in Noisette shade, with interior painted glossy mustard yellow, and soon there will also be sofas, seats and a table in exquisite Calacatta Oro.

Framing the villa is a garden with a wealth of tropical plants, including the Strelitzia, Cycas revoluta, five varieties of variegated-leaf arrowroot plants from the Caribbean, and a collection of palms. Flowering plants, such as the Cubana rose variety which varies in iridescent colour depending on the flower’s age and exposure to the sun, are placed in beds with Corten steel edges.