CASA Shirocco is located just a few steps from the historic center of Ruffano, a splendid village of ancient origins in the heart of Salento, nestled between Capo di Leuca and Lecce. The project stems from the desire to create a domestic haven focused on simplicity and serenity—a place where time seems to slow down, far from the frantic pace of the city.
The intervention involves a terraced house with an ancient soul, landlocked between adjacent properties. It features a single street-facing elevation and a small internal courtyard, which was originally almost entirely obstructed by a masonry staircase leading to the intermediate floor and the roof terrace. In its inherited state, the house had discouraged the owners—a young local couple—who were skeptical about the structural and spatial potential of the property.
From the outset, the primary objectives of the project were to reintroduce natural light into the interior spaces and to instill a sense of airiness by subverting the building’s internal layout.
The main architectural strategy consisted of clearing the courtyard by removing the masonry staircase. Part of a dark, windowless room adjacent to the courtyard was sacrificed to accommodate a new spiral staircase connecting the ground floor to the intermediate level. This spatial reorganization significantly increased the daylighting and ventilation ratios (apporti aeroilluminanti) across all rooms.
The building is articulated across multiple levels: street level, raised ground floor, intermediate floor, and first floor.
Access to the house is gained through a small, barrel-vaulted loggia with exposed ashlar blocks, which acts as a threshold/filter between the street and the entrance, leading into a generous living room. This living area is defined by a large Salento star vault (volta a stella) and offers direct access to a spacious, built-in masonry tub—a dedicated wellness area that overlooks the courtyard through an expansive glazed window.
A large, arched iron-and-glass door separates the living room from one of the two bedrooms, which sits at a slightly lower level. This elevation drop was leveraged to conceal the beds via custom timber joinery: facing the living room, it functions as a bookcase, while facing the bedroom, it transitions into a headboard integrated with bedside niches.
A new structural partition equipped with recessed niches—housing the refrigerator and pantry storage—divides the kitchen from the living room, effectively recreating a pèrtica. Historically, this was the upper section of a deep internal wall (muràja) within star-vaulted rooms; bridging the two ends of the tie-beams (mpìse) and measuring nearly one meter in width, it was traditionally utilized for storing sacks and olive oil or wine vessels.
Concealed by a flush-to-wall door (porta filo-muro) within the entrance area is the bathroom serving both the living zone and the bedroom.
The kitchen area is characterized by a smaller star vault. The kitchen cabinetry, featuring a clean-lined and deliberately minimalist design, connects directly to the courtyard through a wide glazed door.
From the kitchen, a flush-to-wall door leads to the second bedroom, which is also accessible from the courtyard via a glass door. Here, the bed is shielded by a partition that doubles as a wardrobe niche for the room. The bedroom’s essential design is framed by traditional white lime-wash walls, which are extruded to form the bedside tables and the headboard. Another flush door separates the bedroom from its en-suite bathroom, which features a generous walk-in shower.
The palette of neutral tones and lime white, combined with the choice of tactile materials such as timber and stone, enhances the calm and soothing atmosphere, offering guests an authentic immersion into the Salento living experience.
