Our Project

Located in the Val di Blenio between the villages of Castro and Ponto Valentino the property comprises a villa of granite and lime mortar construction, an outbuilding and a small garden.

Over the road we have a small plot of agricultural land. For reasons that will become obvious, this is affectionately known as The Jungle!

The property has spectacular views across the valley!

In a rural location in the commune of Acquarossa it is well served by local services.

For those who like the outdoor life we have spectacular places like the Lucomagno Pass and Lago di Luzzone on our doorstep. We also have the ski resort of Nara very nearby.

The House will provide us with a home in a beautiful part of the world. As a family hotel it will hopefully provide retirement income to supplement our pensions.

Doing most of the renovation work ourselves the project is very personal and, despite a few "what the hell are we doing" moments it is very satisfying.

Our initial plan was to complete the work by 2025, however, this turned out to be unrealistic, especially with some unforeseen challenges (both construction and family). The timeline below reminds us of progress made and what remains to do.

The property is laid out per the picture below (not to scale).

We have the main buildings surrounded by a small garden on the west side of Via Traversa and a small plot of about 150 m2 across the road. We have use of a further 250 m2 owned by our neighbour (blue area) and have aspirations to buy this additional land.

The building labelled The Workshop on the diagram below is actually in two parts. The workshop and our wood shed.

We want to retain as much of the original character of the property as possible. For example, we have already replaced all of the windows with modern triple glazed units in the style of the ones we have removed (including replacing the modern ground floor windows with retro styled ones). 

So we have a common vocabulary (names in brackets are Home Assistant names)... 

Ground Floor:

• The Kitchen (Kitchen): Large kitchen to the North East, equipped with modern appliances and a central island that serves as a communal food preparation area. Currently has an open fire. Has the ground floor pellet burner installed.
• The "Snug" (Snug): Smaller "kitchen" to the South West; will be a quiet room, no technology, phones or TV.  A place for socialising, conversation, board games and drinks. The open fire has been replaced with a modern fireplace insert.

Lower Mezzanine:

• Visitors Toilet: Will be remodelled to become a simple bathroom for visitors.

First Floor:

• Main Bedroom (BedM1): Large bedroom to the east, will remain a bedroom, has a balcony with a view across the valley.
• Small Bedroom (BedS1): Small bedroom to the South, will remain a bedroom.
• Bathroom (Bat1): Currently a small bedroom to the north, will become a large bathroom with bath and shower.

Upper Mezzanine: 

• Was a bathroom with bath, will become a laundry room and storage space for cleaning materials

Second Floor:

Same floor layout as the First Floor.

• Main Bedroom (BedM2): Large bedroom to the east, will remain a bedroom, has a balcony with a view across the valley.
• Small Bedroom (BedS2): Small bedroom to the South, will remain a bedroom.
• Bathroom (Bat2): Currently a small bedroom to the north, will become a large bathroom with bath and shower.

Attic:

• Sitting area at the top of the stairs.
• Office / technology room (network infrastructure, servers).
• Home Cinema, lounge area.

We refer to the land around the house as The Garden, our land across the road from the house is referred to as The Jungle.

The Garden: is very much Emma's domain. Focused on appearance and comfort. We will retain the circular granite table (we understand the top came from the old Cima Norma factory in Torre). We also have what we believe to be an old room heater which predates the construction of the house.

We would like to explore terracing the garden to the west side of the house and installing a wood fired hot tub in the space to the north.

The Jungle: is more about produce. When we arrived this space hadn't been cultivated for over 50 years (hence it's name). We own about 150m², our neighbour owns a the adjacent 250m² which we might be able to buy if funds allow.

We have three old mirabelle bushes which produce a limited volume of good quality fruit. We planted a fig in 2025 which seems to be doing okay. We plan to grow annual crops (fruit and vegetables) time permitting.

Our ideal situation would be to add a seating corner and a traditional pizza oven to the space.

You can read about the history of the House and follow our progress as we go.

I recently saw a post which definitely holds true for this project, it said "Don't let anyone scare you away from that quick 8 week restoration project because those 16 months are the most important 4 years of your life"!