Sarteano
Where there is good clay and good vineyards there are surely good stones. This is what a popular Tuscan saying recites, and if we add to that evidence that travertine is formed by the sedimentation of calcareous-clay soils, we have Tuscan travertine as a result. Sienna is a color as well as a case in the history of baked earth. Sandy and rusty is the travertine of its soil, and in the rare cases in which emerges on the surface, it has been historically used as structural masonry for building. This is the case of the villa built around 1700 on this hill in the south of Siena.
The project included the renovation of the historic villa, the construction of guest units and a winery.
The concept was to articulate the existing volume with new ones, through a series of patios at different levels and placed following the descent of the hill towards the vineyards, so that telescopic frames of the succession of buildings were always possible. The main building had been built of solid travertine stones dug in situ. The concept for its renovation was archeology rather than architecture.
The Ipogea winery project has not yet been carried out and foresees production via gravity.
photo Alessandro Scotti + Caterina Salvi
