#NeoClassicArchitecture | Valentina Expressions

Carolus De Mari – Acquavive Princeps

23 Sep 2022 10 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AdelfiaDoor, #DecoratedCeiling, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #NeoclassicStoneDoor, #PugliaHistory, #TravelPuglia

Door of the City Hall – Acquaviva delle Fonti, Puglia (Italy)

A few years ago I led a group of Americans traveling to Puglia, Italy with me. I took them off the beaten tourist path for a surprising glimpse in the Italian living style of the locals.

“Driving through the countryside of Bari in early afternoon is such a pleasant activity. Nobody is on the two-lanes provincial road, we don’t have to wait for the herd of sheep to complete their outing, and neither we have to stay behind a car waiting to make a move until the incoming traffic on the other side has passed, as we would in a different time of the day. The road is all ours and “Mimmo Lovely” (tour manager) wants to amuse us while driving. He can make music using only his lips, I mean he can be the musical instrument himself, or a full orchestra. He has an exceptional talent in imitating a trombone, a saxophone or a violin and I am sure, if sometimes he feels alone, he can start his own music just by using those vibrating lips. It is after lunch and he is trying to keep us awake while we are reaching our next destination.
At this hour in the afternoon sleepy feeling will attack easily, after all, we had a two hours lunch, good wines, and the sun is low in the sky, beating on us in the car. We are being cradled gently.

It seems we have arrived. The town is Acquaviva delle Fonti and a food demonstration is going on in the courtyard of the City Hall. Oh no, I believe we will eat again! I am a bread lover, there is a crusty home-made bread on display, how can I resist a sample of that huge country bread I see on the table, yellow inside and crusty outside? The dipping olive oil to taste is green and stings the tongue, it is peppery at the right point without having any presence of chili pepper.

The food demonstration is happening in the atrium of the City Hall designed in a neoclassical architecture. My attention’s focus is now switched to architectural details, stairs, heave, walls and a beautiful mosaic floor.

The name Acquaviva delle Fonti comes from the union of two words Acqua (water) and Viva (live), it refers to the abundance of spring water running in the sub terrain that made the land a very fertile valley. The town is known for the production of the sweetest red-purple onion, celebrated every July with a country festival during which vendors show off varieties of their onion pies.

The ceiling in the Mayor’s office decorated in the 1700s is incredibly beautiful and the mosaic design on the floor looks like an area rug. What a privilege to work here every day, breathing antiquity and art!” (excerpt from my book: “The Road To Top Of The World“).

The building of Adelfia’s City Hall goes back many centuries, the door is an elegant neoclassic example of entry to a noble home and here is just part of the ceiling in the Mayor’s office.

San Antion is offering a Thursday Door Challenge, come on over and learn stories behind doors in the world. Ciao.
Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Going Up | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

22 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GardenSolutions, #ItalianColors, #ItalianRoofs, #ItalianStyle, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StoneCeilings, Balcony, Faccioni, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2

How can I forget where I grew up and where my roots are so firmly embedded?

“You are not going to find it on the floor!” I heard it often from my father. It was his way to teach me to walk proud with my head high. Walking with my head high I learned to discover beautiful architectural on top of buildings and all the details that are not at eye level for everybody to enjoy.

The streets of Italy are an open art class where walking is a real learning experience. Nude statues coexist well with people dressed in the latest fashion. Once I stayed in a hotel in Venice facing a beautiful nude of a man sculpted in marble. He was so real, I could see every vein going through his muscles and yet he sat on top of a church looking directly into my window, as sinful as he could possibly appear, almost saying:
“I am here, enjoy me!”
Ah, Venice, the only city in the world where pigeons walk, lions fly and sexy men are stones!

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In Venice, it is common to find, in one street alone, broken pediments and eyebrows windows, neoclassical and Romanic style, Moorish windows and Baroque style, all competing to maintain a place in history. One might wonders who was the lucky patrician family to live there. Today, too often commoners are the lucky ones, people or offices who don’t even have the time to notice the beauty of their bulding.

Balconies decorate young and old buildings, they are almost like urban gardens so much sought after today. In reality, space in Italy is limited, people live in flats, for centuries balconies have been seen as an escape valve from the four walls surrounding the lives of everyone. Behind those plants on the balconies, Italians see, observe and keep the secrets of the neighbor’s life unfolding before our eyes.

If ceilings, which are not made of stones are highly decorated. In modern living, often ceilings are the forgotten walls making the room looked unfinished. In Italy, we like to eat under art, coves and circular shapes, the geometry of roundness gives vibrations of security and harmony.

In the southern parts of Italy, all the constructions are made with terrace roofs to enjoy eating ‘al fresco’ and soaking the Mediterranean sun without being seen, but in the colder north, the characteristic ‘comignoli’ chimneys line the sky. Many wealthy Californians have embellished their Tuscan style homes with copies of our Italian comignoli and ‘faccioni’ cherub’s faces stuck to walls as garden planters. The sophistication and elegance of those stone faces change any non-descriptive house into a classical villa of the past, however the Italians who are lucky to have an outdoor space, most likely will use walls, beams and stone heaves to dry produce for the winter.

My fashion school in Italy is an ancient building born first as a nunnery, then it became the state police headquarter, until in modern days, it became a fashion school. Going up those marble stairs made 400 years ago, warped in the center I felt a great sense of respect towards history. All of us students walked on each side of the stairs to preserve them a little while longer.

I never did find anything on the floor, except a few red cents.

This is in response to WP weekly photo challenge theme UP. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2

Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, classicism, stylish and timeless designs have influenced Valentina’s design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. Find her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

C For Corbel | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Apr 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #CabinetCorbel, #Corbel, #HomeRemodeling, #ItalianArchitecture, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #RoofCorbel, #TableCorbel

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

Korbel with a K is a California winery producing traditional Méthode Champenois sparkling wine in the United States, but the Corbel with a C, of which today I am delighted to speak, is a projecting stone or a piece of timber carved block supporting a beam or a eave. Just as exciting as the bubbly Korbel, the corbel with a C has been a feature in universal Architecture since almost the dawn of time. From ancient Rome to ancient China, corbels supported magnificent balconies, window sills, projecting parapets, or exceptionally elegant entry ways. In the Medieval time corbels appeared as gargoyles and the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral is showing off its beautiful examples to these days.

The word comes from Latin corbellus or corvus (raven) apparently because it resembles the beak of a crow. In Italian is called mensola and in French is called cul-de-lampe, I like this last one. To disguise the load baring function, a corbel must be highly decorative, the eye wants to see something pretty too, not just functionality, that’s the reason of the existence of so many variety of styles and sizes through history from Corinthian design to animal head, cherub’s face to a king’s face and the very popular woman’s face or pineapple, symbol of prosperity.

Faridabab-http://www.grcscreen.com/grc-brackets-3216671.html

http://www.homedit.com/20-best-diy-kitchen-upgrades/corbel-kitchen/

http://www.pacificstone.net/product-category/corbels

Ravenna scrolled side table-http://www.ebay.com/itm/140951604905?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649#ht_1756wt_949

Hand-Carved Mahogany Corbel-NapaStyle

http://indulgy.com/source/restorationhardware.com/from/197824090063

Materials and functions have varied from medieval castles to modern-day homes. Wood, gesso, plaster, resin or even steel have been carved, bent, twisted or shaped into submission according to the wishes of the ruler of the moment.

Today, they have become more simple and straightforward with the purpose of decorating modern houses already quite simple in their shapes, except a few décor ideas that want to give the appearance of being important.

I encourage you to be different and to try something new. My black corbel sometimes holds a candle, or a picture and some other time my friends’ glass of wine. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-home visits, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world.

As an author of three books, she is now a public speaker and teaches style, colors and image. Find her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Geometry | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

04 Nov 2012 10 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GeometryInArchitecture, #ItalianArchitecture, #MosaicFloor, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StoneFloorDesigns, Colors

Saint Nicholas’s Basilica – Bari Italy

San Filippo’s Cathedral – Gioia, Puglia

Gioia – Puglia, Italy

Ceramic Tile Floor – Adelfia’s City Hall, Puglia

Matera

This week theme is perfect for me. The geometry of the Italian architecture has conquered the heart of the world.
In a chaotic country and yet vibrant and artistic as Italy, there is order, tranquility and harmony in all the buildings. They stand erect as a live testimony, that regardless of the state of the economy, or passing of different governments, dictatorship, wars and dominators, Italy has always offered the best examples of beauty. Triangle and semi-circle pediments on top of windows, square top entries and round top entries share the same building façade in a neo-classical order, which is as new today as it was when it was first invented. Colonnades and arcades are perfect to walk under and stay dry for window-shopping, or carrying on a normal day, while outside is raining.

Brunelleschi’s dome, or Palladio style villas have been reproduced everywhere in the world and there has not been yet another architect able to rethink these architectural features. A Dome has been a dome since the Renaissance time; arches have been arches ever since Romans built the first one with the keystone in the center. The White House is one of the many examples of a Palladian villa scattered in the world.

Repetition is the Italian secret to everything. Once we find or create something beautiful, we will repeat it to increase the sensory pleasure. Beautiful quarried stones cover columns, floors and walls of churches, palaces, offices, villas and even simple homes. We walk on luxury every day and we die in luxury carrying with us, on our tombstones, the trait of elegance that distinguishes this small, forever troubled country.

Well, since I come from there, I can proudly say that I can design a mosaic stone floor for any house, small or big. I will be delighted to help designing yours. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990. She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes. As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions. Author of three books all available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w