Puglia - For sale or Rent. Four kilometers from Ceglie Messapica in Puglia, and one hour from Brindisi airport, amongst three hectares of olive and almond trees is this 19th century restructured casolare Pugliese or country house. Casolari are typical buildings of the area, they are low and rectangular and this one also has a roof terrace, a lily pond and a free form stone small pool, with waterfall, is also being built on the property. There are four bedrooms and three bathrooms, a cellar, which could eventually become a fifth bedroom and bathroom, a living room and a kitchen, complete with pantry. Englishman Maurice Kavanagh and Argentinian Margarita Fornieles restored the house. Globetrotter, Margarita who is an interior decorator and has a great sense of color decorated the casolare with Moorish and ethnic details inspired by her travels around the world.
For information: Maurice Kavanagh: mauricekavanagh@gmail.com - Cell. phone: 347-788-4873.
The meditation room # 1. The central point of the meditation room or studio just off the sitting room is the elaborate gilded hand carved wood 1860 Buddha shrine from Thailand.
The meditation room # 2. The view of olive trees from the meditation room is framed by a window below which sits a gilded Indonesian wooden box covered in semi precious stones.
A detail of the living room. Interior decorator Margarita who is also a collector and expert in antique textiles covers modern chairs and armchairs with precious fabrics from her collection. The cushion on the armchair has an antique Susani motif applied on it. The obelisk, painted white, comes from a colonial hotel in India, the Moorish inspired arch leads to the kitchen.
A detail of the kitchen. Maurice who dabbles and deals in 20th century design has placed a Fritz Hansen table and Arne Jacobsen chairs below two family portraits in the kitchen. The paintings were done by fashion designer Lee Pring and portrays Maurice aged thirty with his father William aged sixty, on the left and himself aged sixty with his son Kerry aged thirty on the right.
A detail of the master bedroom. Margarita's sense of color is evident in this chair made with patchwork fabric from old pieces of quilted eiderdown from Jaipur and velvet. A Flos lamp leads to the sitting room.
A detail of the guest bedroom. The pea green bed spread is a very refreshing color in the Pugliesi heat and matches the color on the ceiling. On the wall there is a precious nineteenth coat from Uzbekistan. And, the Chinese hand painted silk panel, over the bed was bought at auction and comes from the collection of a former Italian ambassador to China.
A detail of the master bathroom. A detail of the Moroccan inspired en suite master bathroom.
A corner of a guest bedroom. Under a Willy Mazzi painting, two single beds and an en suite bathroom are the only rooms on the first floor. The beds are covered in a Hawaiian print Japanese fabric bought in Cannes. The lazy Susan on the floor is made from precious Kaya wood from Hawaii and the decorative bottles on the table are from Scandinavia.
The Land. Just over three hectares of olive and almond trees lead up to the casolare.