A quiet refuge in stone houses. The brothers dropped everything and opened a restaurant with a tiny hotel and a vineyard in the mountains
Stone huts in the Alps were abandoned when two architects decided to change their lives. They converted it into a small but very picturesque hotel with a restaurant.
Architect brothers Gian Carlo and Matteo Primatesta transformed a desolate rural hamlet on Lake Orta in Piedmont into a sophisticated vacation hideaway. This is quiet luxury and Italian Dolce Vita at its best!
See photos of a quiet refuge in stone houses
A beautiful lake in the heart of the Alps – there are not many tourists here!
Just an hour north of Milan, near the border with Switzerland, the narrow thirteen-kilometer Lake Orta gleams in the embrace of Monte Rosa, the mightiest mountain range of the entire Alps. In addition to natural treasures, there are picturesque villages and towns that have attracted artists and intellectuals for centuries (including Lord Byron, Nietzsche and Balzac). Despite this, there have never been crowds here – tourists tend to flock to Lakes Maggiore and Como, and the shores of Orta have always remained calm.
Stone cottages and barns transformed into a picturesque guesthouse
On the eastern shore of Lake Orta, brothers Gian Carlo and Matteo Primatesta spotted a deserted village with stone huts and barns. They decided to breathe life into this place – they designed the buildings themselves, and entrusted the landscape architecture to Anna Regge. – Hotel management is a completely new field for us – the owners laugh. – But it turned out that this is what makes “La Darbia” a place for those who seek beauty in design and depth of detail. Read also: You won’t believe that in this mountain village, a glass house was built between wooden huts. And everything fits together!
Luxury likes silence – it should be simple and pleasant
There is a restaurant with a spacious terrace and breathtaking views, a heated swimming pool, and 20 rooms decorated simply and restrained, but elegantly (each one overlooks the Nebbiolo vineyard). Local materials, often recycled, were used to finish the interiors. The colors of nature in all shades dominate, which looks especially nice in the sun. Buildings covered with ivy are cozy and, as the owners say, introverted.
