"And all this was done for exactly that reason," enthuses
Cioffi. "The one thing I sure as hell did not want to do was
create some kind of Disney World, where everything is
artificial and fake. I wanted the renovation to be environ-
mentally intact and ecologically sourced.
"All the beams, for instance, look centuries old—and
they are. But that took a lot of time, effort, and money,
reclaiming old materials. We could have gone to Slovenia,
cut down trees and distressed them to look old; instead
we paid five, six, seven times more for old wood.
"I want this place to be respectful of, and to reflect,
the beauty of the landscape. But while it incorporates
centuries of history through beams, shutters, and stones,
alongside we have tried to bring a contemporary flair to
