Italian architect Marco Giunta has designed the Casa Talia. Completed in 2012, this resort hotel merges tradition and modernity resulting in a highly unique interior environment. It is located on the island of Sicily in Modica, Italy. The houses were originally single family homes and are arranged in a circle around a Mediterranean garden. Each room has an entrance from the garden and a private terrace which overviews the historical center of Modica. The project idea was inspired by the typical model of a Moroccan Riad, where traditionally the common spaces or a garden lie at the heart of the house.
The restoration completely respected the preexistence and the interiors has been furnished with simplicity and good taste, using pieces of furniture which tell the “Sicilianity” and their background – all rooms, with their colors and atmospheres, refer to Mediterranean places and to the different cultures that marked the Sicilian history. The project is designed to reflect the old and the new – such as the home automation system that allows control of all electrical output and energy consumption.
For the restoration of the houses, great attention has been given to the choice of materials, which are natural, ecological, and, above all, typical of the Sicilian tradition: stone walls, lime plasters, cane roof, stone and polychrome tiled floors.
