In the small town of San Pietro Vernotico in Southern Italy, we came across a house that had been left untouched for almost 20 years. The palazzo was built in the late 19th century by Frederico Blasi and has 23 rooms spread across more than 650 square metres. Despite all those years standing empty, so much of the original house is still there. When we first walked through the doors, we didn’t really know what to expect. But there was something about the place that immediately caught us. It felt quiet and forgotten, almost as if the house had been waiting for someone to come along and bring it back to life. And somehow, we knew we wanted to be the ones to do it.
The palazzo is placed right next to the church and the main piazza. In a small traditional town surrounded by vineyards, where trains pass through during the day and people still meet in the square. We bought the palazzo from the sisters Frederica and Paola, the great-granddaughters of Frederico Blasi. The house had been in their family for generations.
