After contacting the realtor and visiting the place we felt that this was a ruin with character which we could use to make something out of it. We also had visited a refurbished house, with similar façade as the house/ruin we intended to buy, of our local butcher. This visit convinced us to go ahead with the project. The man told us that these houses in the center of Calasetta are more than a hundred years old being built on the bedrock. In order to have water in the summer in the old days, before there was water from the distribution company, the houses had cisterns underneath, carved out of the rock, with a solid stone vault and an opening to the kitchen to let a bucket down to fetch the water. In the winter rainwater was collected from the roof into the cistern.
The butcher had turned this cistern into a cool basement. Definitely an idea since our ruin also had such a cistern. We bought the ruin 2007 and let it sit there until I was going to have more time, not say retire.
A friend of a friend had worked with a local architect and after visiting his work and getting to know the very nice people we embarked on the design for the refurbishment. The additional benefit in working with him was that he was living only two blocks away from the project, ideal to follow up closely the works. It took about three designs, tearing down and construction from February 2010 till June 2012, before we got it as we wanted it.
Luckily the front façade had mandatory to be restored in its original design. The cistern I saw perfectly fit for a wine cellar. The first floor had to have a living room and separate kitchen and dining area giving access to the little courtyard for outside eating. The courtyard had a separate access to the street in the back of the house, which prompted the necessity to install a shower in the corner of the yard, so if we, the children and grandchildren come from the beach thru the back door we can freshen up before entering the house.
Adjacent to the little court we made a storage room, washing and drying room and a bathroom.
Second floor needed master bedroom and guest bedroom each with their individual bathrooms and shower. Then under the roof is a large bedroom with 3 beds and a bathroom with shower, as well as storage with boiler from the solar panels.
We left the stairs at the original location and also restored the steps with white Carrara marble as it was done originally.
Under the staircase, adjacent to the living room was a place for a nice niche towards enclosed storage and coat hangers. This area was going to have recuperated original floor tiles.
All the bed rooms have built in cabinets. The ground floor has the original high ceiling with painted wooden beams which gives the additional refreshing feeling to the air conditioning.
As already mentioned the original façade wall and the side walls made of 55 cm, almost 2 ft, thick walls were maintained. Reinforced concrete supports, all inner walls, concrete floor slabs, stairs, roof and the utility rooms adjacent to the courtyard with terrace are all new, hence no visual water piping and drains, and no visual piping and drains for the AC/Heat pump. Six outer doors (2 in the front, 4 in the back) and the five outside windows in the back are all made of Larch wood valued for its tough, waterproof and durable qualities particularly for use in salty moist areas. It is even used for building yachts and other small boats. The best wooden building material to use at an island in the Mediterranean.
The window sills, front door steps and balcony floor are in the local Sardinian marble.
Of the fourteen inside doors, seven are sliding doors sliding inside the wall to safe space.
In short, the house is a gem in the historical center of Calasetta with all amenities.
Located two blocks from the town square and the City Hall. Even closer are the butcher, bakery and little supermarket, restaurants and bars with terraces on the major pedestrian street Via Roma, a Calasetta street reminiscent both of narrow North African alleyways and the grid pattern of New York..
The Commune Calasetta is on the Island Sant’Antioco and is the smaller of the two communes on the Island with a total population of a little under 12000 inhabitants. The other commune has the name of the Island. The island is located in the South-West of Sardinia called the Sulcis area known for its good Carignano wines, Cheeses, fruits, vegetables, suckling pig, fish and sheep. It is connected with a bridge to the main island. The Romans had already made the causeway and the bridge. The antique Roman bridge is still there as a monument next to the modern bridge.
Calasetta has remained relatively unknown because it is different to the rest of Sardinia. They have managed to retain their uniqueness, own culture, dialect, which is Genovese dialect, and even their food.
Most of the inhabitants in Calasetta are descendants of the 60 or so families who moved from Liguria via Tunisia in the 1700s. The families brought their knowledge of winemaking with them from the Bay of Genoa. Today, the Carignano grape in Sant’ Antioco literally grows on the sand dunes. The culinary influence meanwhile comes from recipes the families brought with them from North Africa. Couscous is still preferred by the islanders over pasta.
They have preserved their traditions since the 1700s, also having fun since there is an all-night celebration for something every month, from January through December.
The history of the Island Sant’Antioco goes of course much further back. The Phoenicians came all the way from the east of the Mediterranean to settle in the VIII century B.C., which they also did in North Africa founding Carthago, as well as in other places along the coast of Sardinia. The island became in the 6thcentury B.C. a Carthaginian colony.
The indigenous Nuragic civilization, of which 7000 megalithic structures are discovered on Sardinia with many of the bronze age to the iron age artifacts, got along well with the Phoenicians until around the 5th century B.C. Later came invasions of the Romans, being squeezed between Rome and Carthago during the Punic wars, the Wikings, The Byzantines, the Saracen, the Pisaen, the Spanish of Aragon, and the Piemontese of Savoy.
A melting pot of culture thus, which can be experienced throughout the island.
The people at first seem very cool and suspicious but are very sincere. Once you have them as a friend there are always a friend.
But from the history it must be understood that they are suspicious, since they have always been invaded, therefor the enemy came from the sea and they retreaded in the mountains. This is also the reason why the main specialty of food in Sardinia is Porceddu, suckling pig and not fish. In the inland it was safer than at the coast. The suckling pig is a delicacy, but the fish is delicious too.
