6 bedrooms detached house, 522 m²

Carpi, Modena (province)

NB-002-138:
"HOUSE IN THE PARK"
In the center of Carpi, 2 minutes by bike from Piazza dei Martiri and 10 minutes on foot from Palazzo dei Pio, on the pedestrian avenue inside the Resistenza park, a 746 square meter plot hosts a three-storey house built in 1965 and extensively renovated between 2012 and 2023. The house was built by the family of a marble worker who worked and lived there. Particularly appreciating its location, in the center and in the greenery, the grandchildren began a progressive redevelopment.
Carpi has gradually conquered the limelight of the global textile industry, becoming an important commercial hub, benefiting from enlightened entrepreneurs, the motorway toll booth on the Modena - Brennero axis (8 minutes from the house) and the railway station which today boasts services with the Frecciarossa which in a few hours it takes you to Bologna Florence Rome.
GARDEN
The renovation followed a bottom-up logic and first of all we worked on the garden, entrusting the design to the engineer. Ivano Fieni (landscape designer and greenery consultant). Before carrying out the interventions on the greenery, the black and white sewers were completely redone, the foundations and the subsoil were reclaimed (excessive cementing, an underground tank of diesel fuel and residual marble), the electrical pipes for lighting the garden were inserted, the sandstones for pavements and pavements and gravel areas.
The garden project maintained the pre-existing tall trees for "historical" reasons, including a specimen of yew (Taxus baccata), two palms (Chamaerops excelsa) and two magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora), inserting a birch (common birch) privacy of the rooms facing south and an oak (Quercus robur) closing in perspective the entire garden on the north corner.
To shield the buildings on the south and east sides, and as a prospective backdrop to the project, an evergreen and very fragrant laurel hedge (Laurus nobilis) was planted and common ivy (Hedera helix) was maintained in the remaining perimeter, placed on the mesh of confine.
The garden has been equipped with an irrigation system.
GROUND FLOOR
The ground floor of the house, intended for commercial use, until a couple of years ago home to a yoga studio and now rented to a tattoo studio, consists of two large open spaces and a small bathroom.
Energy improvement interventions have been carried out in these rooms (thermal break windows and ducted UTA air treatment system).
ENTRANCE AND STAIRCASE
The entire house is served by a marble stairwell and there is a pass-through room set up for a possible lift.
FIRST FLOOR
The first floor, entirely paved in marble, retains the original layout of the rooms, is characterized by a clear division between the living area and the sleeping area, and has been partially renovated (thermal break windows, condensing boiler, shower cubicle).
SECOND FLOOR
The second floor, also paved in marble, has been extensively renovated (thermal break windows, condensing boiler, total renovation of the bathroom) and greatly updated in the layout of the rooms, creating a large communicating but separate area containing the living room, kitchen and generously sized dining room ideal for large dinners with friends in a bright and spacious environment.
THIRD FLOOR
The third floor (attic), created from scratch in 2019-20, was designed with the aim of creating a space that was as continuous and open as possible; this idea of openness is realized especially in the large window that overlooks the large terrace to the south-west. From here you have a broad overview of the park and the trees that isolate the building to the west in all seasons.
The choices were guided by the objective of rationalizing the spaces making them functional:
- parquet and underfloor heating everywhere;
- skylights for chimney effect (the air conditioner is present, but superfluous);
- island kitchen in the open space living room-kitchen, creating a more 'breathing' environment which opens with the window onto the park, at the same time feeling collected in a single space;
- place where you sleep placed well at the back of the house (away from the entrance) to increase the sense of protection;
- spacious built-in wardrobes that disappear from view for an essential result that optimizes space;
- an elegant bathroom with freestanding bathtub;
- shower (summer) and sunbathing (even winter) are possible in absolute freedom and privacy on the terrace;
- soundproofed laundry/technical room accessible only from the terrace keeping noise, vapors and chemicals out of the house;
- entrance designed with shelves and a long coat hanger;
- a closet/pantry organized with shelves up to the ceiling which, despite its small size, has a large capacity.
WHY CHOOSE TO LIVE IN THIS HOUSE
Because the location of this house is extraordinary.
The place in which we find ourselves living, the city, the neighborhood, the street, what we have in front of and behind our house and see and hear every day, enters forcefully into our lives.
The historic center of a medium-sized town guarantees a lot and asks little (it certainly does not ask for the efforts of a large city). The historic center of Carpi is an example, yet another in Italy, of a "beautiful Italy" where to go to the pharmacy or to get the newspaper you walk in the Renaissance. If then, as in this case, you are also in the midst of parks and lots of greenery, then it is precisely the "beautiful Italy" of travel guides, that is, that place of historical-artistic-natural beauties in which nature and culture intertwine and they contribute to the quality of life, and therefore to physical and mental health.
Seeing the trees in the garden from the windows and then the trees in the park, the stately homes, the walls, the bell towers and the historic center, hearing the bells until the evening and then from the morning (they remain silent at night), living and growing a stone's throw from the squares is a strong and continuous experience of beauty and belonging.
It is possible to reserve the car for long distances, if it rains the walk into the center is guaranteed by the continuity of the arcades. In the evening, two cinemas and the theater can be reached on foot. When you want to take a bike ride (in addition to use in everyday life), you cross the two parks (della Resistenza and della Cappuccina) and in two pedal strokes you are at the new Santa Croce park and further on for kilometers of beautiful countryside.
The same pedestrian avenue from which the house is accessed is a particularly lively point even on holidays, as it is a natural access to the squares from the small and large free and tree-lined car parks in the park and on Viale Peruzzi.
Because it is a redeveloped house.
The house is equipped with rational environments (square lines and spaces designed in a functional and schematic way) and the possibility of access to the pedestrian avenue of the park (for those who reside it is sufficient to obtain authorization from the police to enter by car): both are characteristic unusual for a central area.
The commercial area on the ground floor offers the possibility of a 'home and shop' to anyone in the circumstances to use it. All apartments have windows on the four cardinal points, essential for the view and for perfect air circulation. Balconies and terraces (17/18 square meters per apartment) provide the possibility of living outdoors.
Since 2012, the grandchildren's family has been committed to the redevelopment of this house, they believed in its qualities and wanted to make their contribution to improving the landscape.
All building renovation and energy requalification interventions are documented by invoices, bank transfers and technical reports from the professionals who followed the works.
Ultimately, the house has very high potential and little is needed to enhance it further.
Because together is better
Having nearby but separate apartments allows for 'community' and independent living; in the most delicate situations it is possible to make life and work choices that are otherwise feasible, as elderly people it is possible to live one's old age more independently, in all cases there is mutual aid in daily actions and emergency corvée and most of all, children have other people, in addition to parents, thanks to whom we can grow because, as an African proverb says: 'it takes a village to raise a child'.
If you are a family of grandchildren, children and grandparents or you are a family of friends, come and see it!