A partially collapsed early 20th-century dwelling embedded in Sambuca di Sicilia’s town walls is reinhabited through a measured reconstruction that clarifies plan, section, and services. The project retains vaults, enfilade sequences, and timber floors while introducing perforated steel staircases, breathable finishes, and integrated furnishings that recalibrate circulation and light within three compact levels.
Sambuca di Sicilia House Technical Information
- Architects1-3: Didea
- Location: Sambuca di Sicilia, Italy
- Gross Area: 135 m2 | 1,453 Sq.Ft.
- Renovation Year: 2022
- Photographs: © Chiara Zalla
Restoring what already exists is, in itself, an act of sustainability. In Sambuca, we breathed new life into a piece of vernacular architecture, allowing it to speak again through the experience of dwelling.
– Nicola Andò
Sambuca di Sicilia House Photographs
Reinhabiting Vernacular Fabric
The early 20th-century dwelling, partly embedded in the historic town walls, is stabilized and reconfigured across three compact levels. Vaulted ceilings, an enfilade of rooms, and timber floors are repaired and retained to preserve the typological cadence of the original house. New openings and alignments clarify internal relationships, enabling an open yet legible sequence that respects existing thresholds and wall depths.
Rather than mimic historic detailing, new insertions read as contemporary strata. Their geometry and finish register clearly against the older fabric, refining circulation and hierarchy without overwriting the house’s character. Services and utilities are consolidated in discrete vertical and horizontal runs, threaded through secondary zones to minimize demolition and protect significant masonry. Wet areas are stacked, and new slabs and lintels are calibrated to existing load paths to avoid unnecessary structural replacement.
Vertical Continuity and Daylight as Medium
Two perforated steel staircases, finished in contrasting tones drawn from the surrounding landscape, organize movement and sightlines. They form a vertical spine that stitches together the tight floor plates, allowing oblique views between levels and across rooms. The openness of the stairs softens the boundary between circulation and living areas, transforming the landings into small outlooks that expand the perceived volume.
Daylight is treated as an active material. It filters through perforated treads and risers, casting shifting patterns that register the passage of the day. Translucent internal doors diffuse light laterally, supporting balanced illumination even in deep rooms bounded by historic walls. A restrained, neutral palette heightens reflectance and legibility, so surfaces read by tone and texture rather than by decorative accent. The combined effect is sectional continuity and visual porosity within a compact plan.
Material Ecology and Craft
Breathable finishes such as lime plaster and raw earth address the building’s damp history by stabilizing humidity and improving hygrothermal comfort. These materials, compatible with historic masonry, reduce reliance on invasive technologies and allow the envelope to regulate moisture through diffusion. Timber repairs and lime-based mortars maintain material continuity, while selected steel elements state their contemporary status without dominating the ensemble.
A cohesive, muted register reconciles rough and refined surfaces, bringing new and existing elements into a single field. Bespoke integrated furnishings are dimensioned to the proportions of each room, limiting clutter and establishing clear datum lines that simplify reading of the space. Fabrication by local craft ensures accurate fit within irregular geometries, and details are kept robust and repairable, favoring screwed or wedged joints over concealed, irreversible fixings.
Working Within Constraint: Method and Transferability
The disparity between the symbolic acquisition cost and the real construction investment becomes a driver for the method. Scope is disciplined, with phased works prioritizing stabilization, environmental performance through passive means, and essential spatial recalibration. Resource-conscious detailing concentrates complexity where it yields the most significant spatial gain, such as the dual stair spine that simultaneously resolves circulation, light, and ventilation.
Restoration takes precedence over replacement to sustain cultural continuity and reduce embodied impacts. Collapsed elements are selectively reconstructed, and assemblies are designed for longevity and repair. The process foregrounds an alignment of spatial quality, economic realism, and contextual responsibility that is transferable to historic cores elsewhere. By clarifying what to retain, what to adapt, and where to introduce precise new elements, the approach provides a pragmatic pathway for reinhabiting small-scale vernacular structures without erasing their local intelligence.
Sambuca di Sicilia House Plans
Sambuca di Sicilia House Image Gallery
About Didea
Founded in 2012 in Palermo by architects Nicola Andò, Giuseppe De Lisi, Emanuela Di Gaetano, and Alfonso Riccio, Didea is an architecture and interior design firm with offices in Palermo, Italy, and Valletta, Malta. With a minimalist approach inspired by the Mediterranean, the practice specializes in residential, commercial, retail, office, and hospitality projects. Didea’s architecture is characterized by its purity of light, material sensitivity, and a commitment to creating spaces where history, nature, and contemporary sensibilities intersect to deliver sensory, sustainable luxury.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Client: Airbnb
- Construction Partner: Muratori Sambucesi Soc. Coop
- Press and Communication: Moosso – Strategic PR and Communication
