Known for the atmospheric sets in movies like Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino also produces interiors that anyone can experience firsthand—and not just on a screen. Founded in 2017, his interior design practice, studiolucaguadagnino, has just unveiled its first hotel—and it’s an astute study in the ways that historic architecture and contemporary design can meld. A member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Palazzo Talìa occupies the 16th-century building that once housed the Collegio Nazareno, a school whose classrooms nurtured scholars, nobles, and pontiffs.
“Having this opportunity has been exciting because we had the chance to embrace all the skills, expertise, and experience of our studio in just one project,” Pablo Molezún, project leader at the firm, tells AD, explaining that the hotel team fully embraced the studio’s three main pillars: chromatism, geometry, and craftsmanship.
Entering the historic hall, the first thing that strikes you is the way in which color brings the space to life. You notice it underfoot as you glide along the monumental carpet created by Nigel Peake for studiolucaguadagnino, which features floral themes with a geometric treatment in soft shades of pink and yellow contrasting with deep blue and burgundy—colors inspired by the original frescoes visible in the bar and the Magna Hall upstairs, which makes a grand impression with its soaring 36-foot-high ceiling, checkered floor, and ancient Roman busts lined up along the walls. Much of the building is a protected landmark, so architectural details like the frescoes, cornices, and framing had to be restored using the appropriate hues. “We did a deep study of the original colors and implemented them into contemporary handmade carpets with new graphic patterns,” Molezún explains.
As you move through the public spaces, you notice the tactile quality of the materials used. In the bar, for example, the studio commissioned a Sicilian ceramicist to create the bar and tabletops with a slightly wavy texture. In the wellness area, green majolica tiles were sourced from Spanish artisans. The courtyard garden is filled with massive palms and other plants that make the space feel like a cross between a Mediterranean and tropical oasis, created in collaboration with landscape artist Blu Mambor.
