Really Exciting Finding at Cancello Est Today

Today was a really exciting day.  When we first viewed the property with Francesca,  one of the Natalini family members, we were really impressed with the fresco that adorned the ceiling in one of the bedrooms. (soon to be the San Giovanni Suite)

Francesca told Monica Bruni, our trusted estate agent, that as a child she thought she remembered that there were some Fresci (Italian Friends, please note correct use of the plural) in some of the other rooms but she was not sure as she hadn't been into the house for over 40 years.  This was enough information for us to start some proper research.

Piero Perogio, our architect located Adriana Malpiedi, a fresco specialist who lives in Cessapalombo which is one of the villages quite close to Gualdo. Apparently Adriana has been responsible for a lot of the restoration in many of the local churches.

She arrived, donned a white coat and latex gloves grabbed a spray bottle then disappeared into the ceiling of one of the soon to be guest bedrooms.  We looked on helplessly with fingers crossed and a expectant look on our faces.

And the result was quite astounding.

This is from the Sanarno Suite which will become our honeymoon suite and not only adorns the ceiling  but the walls as well. Adriana indicated that this is 17th century as it was typical of the colors and design used at that time.

This is in the Smerillo Suite, and looks like it contains a Lilly of the Valley motif in pale blues and yellows. Adriana thinks this is of the same period

In the Loro Piceno suite we discovered the walls were painted in this colorful motif and we can't wait to see what else will be revealed when restorations begin.

This is the design from the the Monte San Martino Suite and shows again flowers and vines and is probably late 18th century according to Adriana. Hopefully it will have early Art Nouveau influences that were popular at that time.

So its back to the drawing board with the plans as we want to design the new layout as to not interfere with the Fresci.  Piero says that its not good practice to incorporate them into a bathroom so the challenge that now faces us is where to reposition the ensuite bathrooms so they don't interfere with the art work.  This is a problem for the location of the kitchen too as it appears that this is the most decorated room.  A great problem to have, I guess, just hope it doesn't delay the renovation timetable.