Al Castello. Luxury Bed and Breakfast

The first floor of an early twentieth-century building in the old city centre of Reggio Calabria has been completely refurbished and converted into a bed and breakfast aimed at a business clientele. The establishment combines a warm, sophisticated ambience with a strong sense of place. The reception and breakfast areas were designed in accordance with local traditions, while the four guest rooms are named after historical figures associated with one of the city’s most important monuments, the nearby Castello Aragonese. The four rooms, including two suites, are named after Giustiniano I, Federico II, Carlo D’Angiò and Giuseppe Garibaldi. The project to refurbish the building in a sober, contemporary style is the work of architect Stefano Trapani, who commented: «Clean styling and discretion are the key features of a mood that is based not so much on historic orthodoxy as on a personal sensibility towards this kind of beauty acquired over time. We made some important choices, including the decision not to overload the space with recognisable brands or products — with the exception of the Verner Panton chair by Vitra.» Artistic sensibility and craftsmanship were the key features of a project that sought to customise the interiors according to space, function and type of users. Predominantly artisanal furnishings are used throughout. The bed bases and headboards, in high-quality leather and a strictly white colour, were made by Giuseppe Monorchio. The bed linen and towels were produced by hand by a local company, and the wood furnishings were custom made by a local carpenter. In the two suites (Giustiniano I and Giuseppe Garibaldi) the decorated ceilings dating from the 1930s appear to float above the exclusively designed ambiences. This effect is at least in part achieved by an overall colour scheme that aims to ensure maximum luminosity of the spaces. The purity of white enhances the minimalist design, while the wood floor that extends throughout that interiors is interrupted only in the bathrooms. In these elegant spaces the vertical and horizontal surfaces merge seamlessly and emphasise the sculptural sanitary fittings with their strongly elliptical geometry designed by Terri Pecora for the LFT Spazio collection from Simas. Back-to-wall WCs and bidets and washbasins set on elegant oak vanity tops were chosen for their conformity with Stefano Trapani’s minimalist and essential design philosophy. The collection brings pure lines and bold shapes to a space dominated by the seamless, luminous extra-white ceramic tiles from Mirage’s Black&White TK200 collection.