The Story

Three years, stone by stone.

From the day we found her — a single barrel-vaulted room watching over the olives — to the morning she opens. The whole project, in order.

  1. August2022

    A pencil and ink sketch by architect Claudio Monnini, showing the future Casa Andrea: the casale on one side, a new two-storey extension with rooftop study, and a long pool below — August 2022.

    An idea, on paper first

    Before a single stone is moved, the house exists in a sketch. The architect, Claudio Monnini, draws the courtyard, the preserved olive at its centre, the long pool below. Two months before we sign the papers.

  2. October2022

    Casa Andrea on the day of acquisition — the original 60-square-metre casale from the Regno di Napoli era, its patinated whitewashed facade, original wooden door and shutters, October 2022.

    The day we found her

    Sixty square metres of stone watching over the olives, untouched since long before us. A patinated whitewashed wall, two wooden shutters, a tired wooden door. We signed the papers that month and stood, slightly bewildered, in the grass.

  3. April2023

    Signed watercolour and ink architectural rendering by Claudio Monnini, April 2023 — Casa Andrea as designed, with the restored casale, the new two-storey living wing with rooftop office, the central preserved olive, and the long pool descending by stone steps.

    A house imagined in colour

    Six months on, the sketch becomes a watercolour. Claudio Monnini draws what will become: two new wings in the casale's language, a courtyard around the oldest olive, a pool that descends by stone steps. Almost line for line, this is what we built.

  4. February2024

    The first day of construction at Casa Andrea, February 2024 — the casale stands restored in the background, the first concrete pour is in progress, only the original wing exists so far.

    The first stones are turned

    The pool basin opens in the red earth. The first concrete arrives, pumped over the wall by a long white arm. From this morning on, the new wings begin to rise beside the old one. Only the casale stands, for now.

  5. July2025

    A Casa Andrea bedroom emerging from restoration in Puglia — original arched window, fresh lime-plaster walls, July 2025.

    The walls find their light

    The bedrooms emerge from two years of stonework. Lime plaster cures slowly on the walls — breathing, vapour-permeable, the same recipe the old vault was built with — an arched window is set into the new wing, and the original openings of the old vault are kept exactly as they were.

  6. July2025

    The long picture window in Casa Andrea's new wing, framing the centenary olive grove of the Puglia estate, July 2025.

    A window onto the olives

    The new wing opens onto the centenary grove. We spent a long time deciding how high the sill should sit so that, lying down, you could still see the trees.

  7. July2025

    Casa Andrea's outdoor terrace and pool area in Puglia, taking shape at golden hour beside the macchia, July 2025.

    Outside, the terrace takes shape

    Stone is laid where summer dinners will happen, the pool basin set into the lime-washed ground. Beyond, the macchia — wild fennel, lentisk, the smell of the south.

  8. August2025

    Hand-rolled orecchiette drying on a long wooden table — a traditional Pugliese pasta morning shared at Casa Andrea, August 2025.

    Pasta on the long table

    A morning learning orecchiette from a neighbour. The kind of small, ordinary afternoon Casa Andrea was built around — not an excursion, just a Tuesday.

  9. August2025

    Restored painted wooden chairs from the original Casa Andrea farmhouse, set against the new lime-washed walls of the Puglia villa, August 2025.

    Old hands, new walls

    Two chairs salvaged from the original house, set against a freshly built bench. The old furniture stays — repainted, repaired, given a new job to do.

  10. August2025

    Built-in shelving niches carved into the lime-plastered wall of a Casa Andrea bedroom, in the Pugliese tradition, August 2025.

    Niches by hand

    Built-in shelving carved straight into the lime — a Pugliese way of finishing a bedroom, where the wall and the furniture are the same thing.

  11. August2025

    The exterior of Casa Andrea villa in Puglia, late summer 2025 — lime-washed walls, set arches, the inner courtyard between the old vault and the new wing.

    The new shell, seen at last

    White walls, set arches, a courtyard taking shape between the original vault and the new wing. From this angle you can finally read what the house wants to be.

  12. August2025

    Dry-stone walls and a centenary olive tree at the corner of Casa Andrea, where the garden of the Puglia estate begins, August 2025.

    Stone, olive, sky

    The corner of the house where the garden begins. Eight months from this photograph, the first guests will sit on the bench just out of frame.

  13. March2026

    The restored fireplace in Casa Andrea's casale, March 2026 — classic Pugliese conical white-plaster hood, Pietra di Trani lintel and hearth, built-in panca camino bench, niche carved into the wall.

    Inside, the first finishings

    The fireplace finds its final form: a Pugliese conical hood in white plaster above a Pietra di Trani lintel, with the built-in panca camino seat underneath. A niche in the wall to the side — the bedroom logic carried into the living spaces. Three months before the first fire.

  14. June2026

    And now — Casa Andrea opens in June.

    A few more weeks to do it properly. The pool is filling. The kitchen is on. The first guests arrive in June.

    Be among the first to know →

More photographs and short films will be added here as the first season approaches. Professional photography arrives later in the summer.