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Made in Italy
Dark hall of a period villa on Lake Como: a single beam of warm light kindles the inlaid marble floor, a Michelessi vision

Project vision

A villa on Lake Como
where marble takes the stage

Four rooms drawn by our Aprilia workshop, following a single beam of light.

The vision

Four rooms,
a single beam of light

We invite you to imagine a period villa poised upon the shore of Lake Como: the darkness of its historic rooms as a stage, a single beam of warm light, and marble stepping into the scene. This is a Michelessi project vision — an account of what our Aprilia workshop, at work since 1976, could bring within those walls. For the inlaid floors we have imagined a dialogue between Nero Marquinia, Calacatta Oro and Verde Alpi; for the colonnade upon the lakeside garden, the luminous composure of Bianco di Carrara; for the master bathroom, the dramatic veining of Arabescato Corchia. Every slab would be chosen at the quarry, then cut and matched by hand in our workshop, where drawing becomes matter and matter becomes narrative. Allow us to guide you, room by room, through this vision: follow the light.

Inlaid floor of the hall facing the lake: a great rose of Calacatta Oro and Verde Alpi upon a ground of Nero Marquinia beneath a raking beam of light, a Michelessi vision

Nero Marquinia · Calacatta Oro · Verde Alpi

The Hall
of Inlays

In the great hall that faces the lake, the floor is the undisputed protagonist. Upon a ground of Nero Marquinia, deep as evening, the vision traces a great rose interweaving Calacatta Oro and Verde Alpi, edged with slender gilded fillets — the sole accent of light in the darkness of the room. The veining pursues its course from slab to slab, matched by hand in the Aprilia workshop so that the drawing is never broken. Imagine crossing it at sunset, as the water’s reflection kindles the inlay: you will find that geometry, here, does not decorate — it tells a story.

Bianco di Carrara colonnade in the lakeside garden at blue hour: twelve columns towards the water, each lit by a warm beam, a Michelessi vision

Bianco di Carrara

The Colonnade on
the Lakeside Garden

Between the villa and the water, the vision opens a colonnade of Bianco di Carrara: twelve columns with honed shafts, marking the lakeside garden like the bars of a musical score. By day the white absorbs the shifting light of Como; by night each column rises from the darkness beneath a warm beam, while the shadow of the others becomes its stage. The capitals, carved in our workshop, revive a drawing from the villa’s own archive; a thread of gold runs along the architrave, the sole accent. Walking down towards the shore, you will find yourselves slowing your pace: it is the rhythm of the stone that asks it of you.

Master bathroom clad in book-matched Arabescato Corchia, with a bathtub hollowed from a single block beneath the single beam of light, a Michelessi vision

Arabescato Corchia

The Arabescato
Bathroom

The master bathroom is conceived as a chamber of stone and steam. Its walls are book-matched Arabescato Corchia: the grey veining mirrors itself like clouds upon the water of the lake. At the centre, beneath the single beam of light, a bathtub hollowed from one entire block — a monolith our Aprilia workshop would carve by numerical control and then finish by hand, down to the touch of silk. Brushed gold fittings are the only accent amid the white and the grey. Imagine the steam rising through the darkness: the stone, here, breathes with you.

Helical staircase in Botticino with risers of Nero Marquinia and a burnished brass handrail, the skylight’s beam upon the first step, a Michelessi vision

Botticino · Nero Marquinia

The Staircase
of Honour

From the entrance hall, a helical staircase ascends towards the piano nobile: solid Botticino treads, risers of Nero Marquinia, and a burnished brass handrail tracing a single, long line of gold through the shadow. Each tread would be shaped individually in Aprilia, following a curve surveyed on site to the millimetre, so that the spiral might seem born with the villa itself. Light descends from a skylight above and falls upon the first step as upon an actor awaiting his cue. As you climb, the darkness slowly parts: it is a scene composed so that you, guests of the villa, may step into it.

We look forward to hearing from you

A vision that awaits
your villa

The Lake Como vision is an invitation: write to us or come and see us in Aprilia, and we will draw it around your own home, slab by slab, with the care we have brought to every project since 1976.

Contact us