The history of our residence
There are places, houses and environments able to stick in our mind, where to go with the thought when looking for a moment of pleasant relaxation; there are houses that can create an almost magical relationship between interior, exterior and the sea, promoting serenity.
It does not matter if we have lived in them for a short time; probably this is the strength of our Residence, where you can spend pleasant moments of rest to live essentially in close contact with nature rediscovering the luxury of simplicity.
Walking along the paths in the park you will find views of the sea that capture the reflections of the water, there are views that can create an emotion and fix in your mind the intrinsic character of the place. Emotions then increase and multiply when observing from the top and visiting the nearby historic center of Marciana Marina, a precious jewel set among the rocks.
The large Villa, with all its equipment and the park, are available, not only to one family, but to all our guests, for a relaxing stay respecting the environment.
Origins
In 1950 the Swiss family Moderspaker discovered this corner of the island, partly Mediterranean park and partly vineyard, with an adjoining farmhouse of the nineteenth century where the wine was produced.
The head of the family, Swiss Consul in Florence, a lover of the sea and a passionate sailor, had this villa built entirely in granite, like the local period houses, for his family, with rooms for the servants and with a room near the sea for the sailor, who had to lead and guard the big boat: a sailing yacht of 22 meters that made cruises and races in the Mediterranean. The large bollards still visible on the pitches at sea were used for mooring. The house, while retaining its function as a winery and wine production, was partly renovated and used as an annex for guests, mostly fellow racers and cruisers.
The large villa (it had 7 bathrooms and a huge hall with teak staircase to the upper floor), was designed by Swiss architects, with the collaboration of Italian landscape architects who designed the park.
Respecting the existing farm and Mediterranean park of 16,000 square meters. internal pedestrian paths of almost 1 km with four descents to the sea were created. For the flower essences native plants were chosen.
Particular care was taken to respect the environment: the villa, the farmhouse and the paths immersed in the park are almost not seen from the sea and the road.
They have also restored two slipways for service boats and restored an existing compartment at sea, for service equipment.
The Consul left us the rudder of his boat (hanging in the loggia at the arrival dating back to 1960), the many copper lamps of old boats, the bell on board and the large rudder of a sailing ship of 800 that was on the entrance gate (now in the porch) expertly restored by his son Luigi, through the use of original essences and months of patient work.
In 1960 the engineer Eraldo Filocca and his wife Ines came to Elba on their honeymoon and fell in love with this island that was at the time opened to tourism, leaving behind a past of mines and blast furnaces and continuing the rural economy. They returned other times to the island and were pleased to note that the island was not altered by concrete, as happened in other places.
In the year 1983 the society Intur s.r.l. (the acronym stands for Tourism Initiatives) of the Lombard Brianza, bought this property, which in the meantime had passed to other owners.
The house was purchased by a family from Milan on our proposal.
The brothers Eraldo and Mario, professional engineers and architects, with their staff took care of the restoration and renovation of the villa and the farmhouse. The park was divided into 11,000 square meters for the villa and 5,000 for the farmhouse, but fences were not erected to delimit the properties, which retain their unitary appearance.
It became necessary to carry out particular and demanding works for the defense of the territory after a landslide made a part of the park above the beach slide towards the sea for about twenty meters. The continuous winter sea storms destroyed the breakwater barrier, which was restored with large stones from the Val di Cornia. The sea dug caves under the small square and the stone paths to the sea, which were made safe with underwater jets.
The acoustic insulation was taken care of, with lead and cork slabs for the floors and multi-ply polymateric panels on the partition boards, obtaining a considerable reduction in acoustic transmission.
The brothers Eraldo and Mario, who also loved the sea and were passionate sailors, transposed into the construction elements and technologies of sailing, such as the railings of stairs and walkways, with steel cables stretched with rigging. Every iron element was replaced with identical copies in stainless steel, maintaining the original windows and all the elements that characterize the villa and the park.
Particular care was taken to protect the environment and the choice of non-polluting systems, to keep intact the scents of the park: the hot water is produced with an air-water heat pump system with zero emissions and energy savings; a photovoltaic shelter at the parking lot produces the electricity needed by the residence, with zero energy balance in the year.
To maintain the garden and not consume water from the aqueduct, then very scarce, a well was drilled into the rock, which gives non-calcareous fresh water for plants, bathing and showers in the sea.
The electrical systems were made, for design and materials, with those characteristics that the legislation, then very incomplete, prescribed only several years later. The water network was realized, with accurate isolation of the hot water network. Only three bathrooms were not redone, in order to maintain the characteristics of the manor house.
Today
The residence, after a year of planning and four years of work, opened in 1989.
Eraldo, with his wife Ines, with their family, still manage it directly with three generations.
His sons arch. Luigi, arch. Marco and geom. Vittorio collaborated in the design phase, construction and organization and continue to give their contribution
of ideas.
Vittorio collaborates in the management together with Annachiara, Luigi’s daughter.