Stone house in Contovello, above Miramare

About 250 metres above the sea, on the ridge that falls towards Miramare Castle, Contovello is the only village around Trieste whose year of birth is on record: 1413, when the city settled farmers from the Karst here to work the terraced vineyards above the gulf. This house stands at the heart of the village, among narrow lanes and pastel façades, and is built of the same stone.

Its 103 cadastral square metres are spread over three floors, each with a character of its own. The ground floor is one generous room — kitchen, dining table, sofas — under a ceiling of old beams and boards, with a door onto the lane and another at the back that opens onto a small private lawn. Upstairs are two bedrooms, the second reached only through the first, and a shower room. At the top, a wooden staircase climbs into the attic, where the roof trusses stay exposed above a double bed, with a washbasin and WC.

The restoration kept the stone, the timber and the terracotta. Heating is independent, with radiators; there is no air conditioning, and the internal stairs are steep, as in every house in the village.