“LAYERS OF TIME”, SALUZZO

Once the capital of the Marquisate, Saluzzo is a Piedmontese town of extraordinary historical depth — a place where medieval streets and Renaissance architecture converse naturally with the Alpine landscape and a remarkably intact urban fabric. In this setting, Marcante-Testa has been commissioned to renovate a 300-square-metre residence on the steep road leading to the castle, right in the heart of the old town.

From the very first visit, the architects were struck by the home’s quiet grandeur: large, well-proportioned rooms, frescoed ceilings, a late-19th-century French wallpaper still intact in the main salon, original doors, and a façade bearing traces of its medieval past.

Rarely inhabited, the house retained the air of a summer retreat. “A holiday home implies a freer spirit,” say the architects. “That sense of freedom inspired our approach — layering different eras and references, reinterpreting spaces like the master bedroom and kitchen through a subtle 1960s lens.”

The challenge was to transform these historical interiors for a contemporary family of four — modernising systems and floors, restoring decorative details, and introducing new functions — without erasing the building’s identity.

Marcante-Testa’s response was to balance careful restoration with a new architectural language that dialogues with the past. Terrazzo floors, custom-designed to define functional and perceptual zones, coexist with the original terracotta in the main salon. Bespoke micro-architectures bring intimacy and rhythm to the generous volumes: a curved steel screen separates kitchen and dining areas, sliding curtains frame views toward the terrace and garden, and a suspended copper frame in the living room supports lighting while creating a new “ceiling” that subtly reframes the original fresco.

In the master bedroom, custom cabinetry and suspended metal structures introduce an atmosphere both intimate and sophisticated.

As in all of the studio’s work, a precise study of color and material underpins the design. Here, the palette unexpectedly echoes the 19th-century tones uncovered during the restoration of the dining room vault. Wallpapers conceived as “architectural belts” connect walls, floors, and ceilings, intertwining historical and contemporary layers and poetically dissolving the boundary between past and present.

The result is a home that lives through time — where memory and modernity coexist without nostalgia, finding harmony in their superimposition. A project that mirrors the very essence of Saluzzo: the beauty of history as continuous transformation.

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(photos by Carola Ripamonti)