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A boutique hotel on the slopes of Mount Etna

A boutique hotel designed on a human scale, a shelter with a minimalist and detailed atmosphere, a comfortable place where guests can feel at home.

Time Span: 2021
Location: Nicolosi, Sicily, IT
Interventions: Interior Design
Status: Done
Dimensions: 404 m2
Partner: LineaT Studio
Architect: Giorgia Testa
Architect: Salvatore Terranova
Photographer: Alessandro Castagna

Críu Boutique Hotel arose from a deep love and connection with the land and with local traditions, reinterpreted from a personal and original perspective. A minimal, neat, refined and delicate place, intended to be primarily a HOME. A space where architecture, design and genuine Sicilian cuisine meet, immersed in the natural wonders of the surrounding landscape: the slopes of Mount Etna.

A concept envisioned by a duo of designers, Giorgia Testa and Salvatore Terranova from LineaT Studio, who have always cared for local and natural materials. The contact with architecture is an experience and the texture of its components is fundamental.

“Críu is what we would like to find in every trip we take. It is the house that we would like to become the reference point for travelers who prefer a relationship with nature and are environmentally aware, who are demanding but at the same time love simplicity.”
Giorgia Testa and Salvatore Terranova

A preexisting double-height space becomes the container of the vertical connection, characterized by two curved corten steel sheets. It turns into a railing as well as a support for this significant element.

The kitchen/living area was designed for guests to spend the whole day, with a particular focus on breakfast, when a chef will prepare the desired dishes in front of them.

The minimalist concept of each room is linked to the love of local natural materials and Sicily. Their names, Cotto, Terra, Salvia, Ghiara, Lavica, Sale, Neve, Manna, represent ancient and still used Sicilian materials that come from the soil, natural phenomena and botany.

The materials that characterize the interiors are birch plywood for the vertical elements, corten steel for the staircase, lava stone for the breakfast top, rope for the seats.

Even the name of the project is consistent with the local tradition: críu is the name of the ancient Sicilian sieve, traditionally made with a wooden band and the bottom in wire mesh or horsehair.