Forte dei Marmi, a seaside town in the province of Lucca in the Northern part of Italy, is recognized for its tourism and attracts numerous visitors worldwide. Since the 18th century, it's welcomed tourists from Milan, Florence, Germany, and Russia, resulting in many older residences throughout the town. One such home was assigned to Landscape Architect Lunardini, whose task was to revitalize its landscape aesthetic, transforming the original harshness to a style more appropriate for such a welcoming town.
The client wanted a whole reshuffle of everything on the site except for a few trees that were left because they enhanced the look of the place. Landscape architect Giuseppe Lunardini re-imagined the whole landscape to provide a very warm surrounding to the owners of the home.
The whole landscape was redone to capture the feeling that is typical of a sea home. Adjacent to the house is a swimming pool that gives a much desired feeling of adventure and excitement. While it needed a lot of rethinking in terms of the planting design to surround the pool of water and the connection from the pool to the house, its strategic location was well thought out by the initial architect who designed the home. To Lunardini, the founder of Giuseppe Lunardini Landscape Architecture, the challenge was to figure out how to interconnect the house, landscape and the pool to give the feeling of an interconnected but different experience.
The architect opted to maintain the initial structure of the swimming pool's ledge together with it's timbered finish and brought in resting chairs for use while basking in the sun. Mazeras stone was used to clad the walls of the garden surrounding the pool.
Adjacent to the swimming pool is a garden that has a path in the middle leading to the house and a group of small rocks into which vegetation has been planted.
Initially, there was no specific path leading to the main entrance of the house. This was a major part of the design, and the architect used stone tiles to lay a path towards the main entrance. Special grass types and a specific planting design was implemented alongside the path to accentuate the space and give the visitors a sense of direction.
Due to the vast amounts of land available on the site, several gardens are planted and connected with each other by accentuated pathways. Pot planting is also a major aspect of the gardens to enhance the look of on some zones within the gardens.
The entrance of the house is characterized by yet another garden next to the veranda accompanied by potted plants to soften the tiled hard surface and at the same time enhance the aesthetic appeal of the space.
Behind the house is a field that has been enhanced by grass and a stair access together with plants surrounding the space. The field can be used as an outdoor space for events happening in the residence. Trees on the peripheries provide shading from the sun for people in that space.
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Project Information
Landscape Architect: Giuseppe Lunardini
Location: Forte dei Marmi, Italy
Size: 9,000 sqm
Completed: 2012
Photographs: Giuseppe Lurnadini
