“A jewel box inside a treasure chest”
words by Angela Palumbo – photos by Carola Ripamonti
Marcante-Testa’s Layers of Time unfolds like a jewel box inside a treasure chest: the historic building in Saluzzo, already valuable on account of its view of the ascent to the castle and the stratification of eras it contains, contains within it an even rarer dwelling, a domestic microcosm of frescoes, period wallpapers and generous proportions. It is this double container, both urban and interior, that the project chooses not to monumentalize, but to reactivate. The intervention begins with the home’s original structure: a sequence of large enfilade rooms facing both the street and the rear garden. Marcante-Testa do not radically alter the layout but work on thicknesses: thresholds, diaphragms, partially dropped ceilings and built-in furnishings become devices that calibrate the transition between rooms, introducing moments of visual compression and expansion. Custom-designed terrazzo floors mark functional zones within the large spaces, dialoguing with the historic terracotta of the main hall, while a curved metal partition separates kitchen and dining room like a light, filtering wall that organizes space without interrupting diagonal views. In sections, the project works especially on the relationship between light and the decorated ceilings: a suspended copper structure redesigns the upper plane of the living room, accompanying the frescoes without concealing them; curtains and sliding textiles add a mobile, almost scenic layer that modulates intimacy and the connection with the terrace and garden. The interior “micro-architectures”, including contemporary boiseries, full-height storage elements and technical components integrated into the furniture, all contribute to hiding systems and everyday functions, restoring clarity and a renewed legibility to the large rooms. Color and materials construct a coherent landscape: the palette draws from the hues found in the dining room vault and reinterprets them in a contemporary key, while new wallpapers act as belts that bind floors, walls and ceilings in a controlled continuity. Thus, Layers of Time offers the image of an interior that does not oppose old and new but juxtaposes them as successive layers of a single narrative: the architectural jewel box of the Saluzzo residence gains an additional stratum, making the continuity between memory and design visible.