A Modern Look for an Outdated Roman Apartment

What good is an apartment in the center of Rome with a view of the Tiber River when it’s falling apart? Raffaella Guigni and her husband, Marco Ferrante, didn’t see an apartment in shambles, but rather a chance to create their dream home. Acquired from Guigni’s relatives in the 1990s, it was three separate apartments with uncomfortably small and mostly ruined rooms. Although the couple decided to tear down the interior walls to create a bigger living space, they restored and preserved the original ceiling frescoes and wooden ceiling beams. Those aspects that they didn’t find appealing were preserved and covered up behind a wall, should future owners ever wish to reveal them. In an effort to modernize the apartment, many of the wooden doors were replaced with new ones made solely of a sheet of glass on a hinge. As preservationists, Guigni and Ferrante have created a modern, yet comfortable living environment, while preserving the historical integrity of the apartment.