Episode Information Trade Secrets Puglia

Date Published:

17/06/2008

David and Leoni triumphed over adversity to create a wonderful home in a beautiful country with fabulous weather. So you would be forgiven for wanting to create your own perfect home in Puglia too. But where do you start?

You're most likely to start with an ancient fortified farm building called a Masseria. The south of Italy was a dangerous place to be in the 16th century and wealthy landowners built themselves Masserie to protect themselves and the local people. These thick external walls have survived attacks from invading Turks and Moors - and the fabulous courtyard was the centre of village life.

Nowadays, most of the invaders are us Brits. And you can see why. We are intoxicated by the mix of ancient romantic buildings with grand courtyards, orchards and vaulted ceilings. But once you have fallen in love and bought one, what do you do with it?

Masseria owner Maria Teresa Guarini says 'These buildings tell a story and when restoring them it's important to be faithful to their history, using traditional methods and materials.'

'The restoration of our property took six years and we used local craftsmen and original materials from the area like tufo stone and wrought iron,' Maria says. 'We didn't want to introduce anything foreign like plastic. We also left historical and agricultural equipment around as a testament to the building's past.'

If you were restoring a building like this in Britain the idea would be to ensure your repairs were sympathetic but clear, so that in the future, people will be able to read the building's history. In Italy the aim is to make it look like it was done a hundred years ago.

'You can easily find brand new stone of the same type and colour of that used originally,' says Marco Rugge, who restored this Masseria. 'Where the new stone is added, it quickly becomes old looking, because the moss and lichen rapidly moves from old to new.'

When restoring a Masseria try to retain the original structure. Thick walls, vaults and overall layout are complexly interlinked - mess with one and you might find the whole lot come tumbling down.

One person who knows all about the perils of Italian restoration is Nigel Wilson, a British interior designer working in Puglia. 'I've heard about people who've demolished a wall and then the whole vault's collapsed on top of them,' he says. 'And the only way round that is to recognise the architect and make sure that all the work that you're doing is right - right for the building, right for the structure and right for you.'

So think very carefully before making any structural changes.

'I think the best way to retain the character of the building is to work with people that have been working in the area for generations and then also use local materials,' Nigel continues. 'I see some people's houses and they've put ceramics down on the floor and it just looks terrible. Just work with what you've got.'

'Don't try and impose your own ideas on it because the ideas here are strong enough to start with.'

If you're determined to restore a Masseria then there are a few things to bear in mind. There's no single body that has authority over all matters related to planning. There are three! So getting your planning permission is likely to take three times as long.

Restoration guidelines are incredibly strict and you're likely to be frustrated by how little you’re allowed to change. Make sure you get an architect on board who has worked in Italy before and who not only understands what materials to use, but how to work the system.