Using materials sourced throughout central Italy, Point3architecture and landscape architect Jean Mus created a bucolic escape from everyday life.
The Paradis Agricole hotel in Tuscany. The building, a 150-year-old farmhouse, was transformed into a luxury hospitality property by Paris-based Point3architecture and landscape architect Jean Mus.
“The clients wanted a place where it felt like time could stop,” says architect Thibaut Julien, of the Paradis Agricole boutique hotel, which opened last summer in the town of Pietrasanta, located in Italy’s Tuscany region. “We had already worked with them designing a hotel in the city center three years ago, and they came back and asked us to work on this one, which is rooted more in the country.”
When Julien and members of his firm, Point3architecture, first saw the 19-acre property, they were struck by its pastoral beauty but noted the run-down conditions of the farmhouse, which dated back to the late 1800s. “We renovated everything,” Julien says of the full gut renovation that retained just the walls and some architectural details such as wood ceilings. “We wanted to create a relaxing and timeless atmosphere in this green setting between the sea and the mountains.”
The rolling Tuscan hills are an idyllic backdrop for the renovated hotel.
French landscape architect Jean Mus designed the property surrounding the hotel, which includes a pool and a garden replete with sculptures and water features.
With only nine rooms—seven in the main house and two in smaller outbuildings—Paradis Agricole is an intimate experience. Aside from gutting the farmhouse, Point3architecture expanded its footprint with extensions on either side that enlarge the ground floor. “We designed the reception areas like those of a large bourgeois villa with a multitude of lounges, a library, a billiard room, and a huge dining table that can accommodate 18 guests,” Julien notes. “To give more character and authenticity to the place, we blended contemporary and vintage furniture”.
The original wood ceilings remain throughout most of the hotel, including the bar and lounge, which features a large, white modular sofa and a vintage Carrara marble coffee table. The wall scones are Catellani & Smith.
A pair of vintage Florence Knoll armchairs awaits guests in the library.
The dining room is poised for groups, with a Low Table Carlo by Gommaire sitting on a vintage rug. The dining chairs are &Tradition's Drawn HM3 model in natural oak. A cluster of Viabizzuno N55 pendant lights brings a modern finish to the space.
Wanting to retain the rustic aesthetic, but elevate it through décor, Julien and his team opted for a palette to match the existing building, with materials sourced regionally—the property sits just 12 miles from the city of Carrera. In addition to the region’s famous marble, the architects worked with natural shades of lime plaster, terracotta, and oak wood. Vintage items—a pair of vintage Florence Knoll armchairs in the library, a classic Eames rocking chair in a guest room—mix with contemporary pieces from Tom Dixon and B&B Italia for a lived-in feeling with just the right amount of polish.
Guest rooms include a mix of vintage and contemporary pieces that bring a calming feel.
A vintage Eames chair feels modern against this bedroom's whitewashed stone wall.
A Florence Knoll sofa and Herman Miller Eames rocking chair sit next to a round Inbani tub in one of the guest rooms.
The hotel sits on a 20-acre property, which includes a separate cinema room, a sauna, and a swimming pool surrounded by olive trees and Italian cypresses. Beyond that, the rolling hills of Tuscany. The hotel grounds were designed by noted landscape architect Jean Mus and include 10 greenhouses and a grove of 5,000 olive trees. Guests can buy grown-on-the-farm produce, and the brand’s own olive, at the on-site delicatessen.
Ten large greenhouses provide fruit and vegetables for the on-site delicatessen.
“Some of the trees have been there for a long time,” says Julien, “but most are new. Just like with the hotel, we wanted the landscape to look like it had been there for a long time.”