#italyarchitecture

Located in the historic centre of Ortigia, Sicily, Cool Dreams occupies part of Palazzo Gargallo di San Gaetanello, a fifteenth-century building later acquired by the Gargallo family and restored by architect Francesco Fichera in the early twentieth century. For Kaleido Studio StP, the existing building determined the organisation of the new hospitality programme. Rather than imposing a standard hotel layout, the reception, bar, lounge, breakfast room, art gallery, guestrooms, and service spaces were fitted around the palazzo’s established rooms, thresholds, and circulation. Francesco Caristia The intervention began by removing relatively recent alterations. Previously blocked openings were reopened, while partitions and a corr... More