Renovate a Villa in Tuscany from Abroad

You do not need to be in Italy to begin, or to decide. If you prefer, the first conversation is a video consultation on Zoom or Google Meet; otherwise we talk by WhatsApp or the contact form. We ask how the house will be used and which rooms matter first. From photographs, a survey and any drawings you have, you receive measured drawings and photorealistic 3D concepts. A sample box of solid walnut, chestnut, fabrics and finishes is sent to your home so you can approve by touch. Only then does the Cascina workshop start. You follow the making through photographs and notes, and our craftsmen install the work in the villa — with you there, or by a remote handover.

Yes, for the interior work we take on. Remote project management means one English-speaking point of contact from the first sketch to the last drawer slide: design, bespoke furniture made in our own workshop, delivery and installation. We also liaise with your architect, your geometra and the local builders, and we can supervise the site visits that concern the joinery. Permits, structure and site safety stay with the professionals appointed for them. Our role is to keep the interiors coherent, and to be the person you write to when you are not in Italy.

Turn-key interiors means you receive finished rooms, not a kit of parts to coordinate yourself. A typical commission includes a written scope, measured drawings and photorealistic 3D concepts, material samples sent to you abroad, and bespoke furniture made by hand in the Cascina workshop — kitchens, cabinetry, tables, boiserie and dressing rooms in solid walnut, chestnut and other hardwoods. It also includes packing, delivery and white-glove installation in the villa, and coordination with your architect and local trades where the joinery meets the building. You approve the important decisions. We carry the measuring, the making, the scheduling and the fitting. One partner, accountable for the result.

A bespoke kitchen or a single room usually takes three to five months from approved design to installation. Full villa interiors typically run from six to twelve months, depending on scope, materials and site conditions. The calendar starts when the design is approved, not when the first email is sent. Woods, fittings and the readiness of the building are the usual reasons a date moves. We agree a timeline before work begins, and we tell you early if something on site would change it.

We work with a minimum project budget of €35,000. That figure is for a complete, made-to-measure commission: design, samples, handcrafted furniture and installation. It is not a consultation fee, and it is not a deposit. Bespoke work is priced on scope, materials and detail. Solid walnut and hand-cut joinery are not the same as veneered cabinetry, and the difference remains visible. If a brief cannot be done well at that level, we will say so plainly.

Yes. The workshop is in Cascina, in the province of Pisa, and we install across Tuscany, Umbria and the rest of central Italy. Chianti, Val d'Orcia and the Maremma are within our usual ground, as are Lucca, Florence, Siena, Cortona and Lake Trasimeno. Distance from the bench does not change how a piece is made — only the planning of delivery and installation. If the house is in Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo or Emilia-Romagna, tell us. We already work in those regions when the project is the right fit.

In writing, and often enough that you are never guessing. During fabrication we send photographs and short notes by WhatsApp or email. You see the work at each stage and can reply in the same thread. A video call is only for the first consultation, and only if you prefer it. After that, a written record is more useful: you can look back at what was approved, and so can we. If a decision is needed, we send the question with the options. You should always know what is happening, what is waiting on you, and what happens next.

Yes. Many of the villas we furnish already have an architect, a geometra and a builder. We join that team rather than replace it. We read their drawings, agree where our joinery meets their walls, and keep one conversation in English for you. Where it helps, we coordinate the interior work on the ground, supervising the relevant site visits and liaising with the trades involved. If you do not yet have local professionals, we can explain what the building work requires — the appointment of an architect or geometra remains yours. The furniture should fit the house that is actually being built.

No. You can approve the drawings and the samples from home, and see the rooms when they are finished. A visit is welcome if you want one — to the villa, or to the Cascina workshop — but it is not a condition of the work. What we do need is access to the property for measuring and installation, arranged with your housekeeper, agent or builder, and your decisions on drawings and samples within the time we agree. Presence is optional. Clarity is not.

The pieces are made in our own workshop in Cascina, on Via Giovanni Pascoli, where the family has worked since 1936. Three generations, the same benches, solid wood rather than a showroom catalogue. That matters if you are abroad. You are not commissioning a design that is then handed to an unknown maker. The people who draw the work are a short walk from the people who cut it. When we send a photograph from the bench, it is our bench.