Inside Gabrielle Caunesil & Riccardo Pozzoli’s Lake Maggiore Home

Hi AD. I'm Gabrielle. Hi AD. I'm Riccardo.

Welcome to our home. Welcome to our home.

This house, actually, is a house we renovated,

we didn't build it, we found it

it was a bit abandoned, but it was already wonderful.

We tried to bring our idea of beauty.

But we couldn't do the most beautiful thing

which is the view.

One of the things that made us fall madly in love with it is this fresco

that the first time we entered we said, “wow.”

Yes, in fact, originally the structure dates back to 1600,

so we obviously had to work on

many aspects of the house, structural and so on,

but this fresco has remained completely untouched.

No one touched it, fortunately, even during the renovation,

no one ruined it. It survived the work, that's right.

Personally, I think that something that says a lot about me,

is definitely these Saint Roch shells on the wall

because they're nice and big and they have this taste,

let's say I'm not very minimalist.

You can see the water from every window, so there's a bit of a theme

that recurs throughout the house. Definitely, in my opinion,

when you enter the house, you perceive the wonder of her Parisian heritage

in the sense that, in any case, you also enter with a little

touch of style that is somewhat Haussmanian.

And in my opinion, it is also the beauty of this house

which is the exaltation of the beauty of the structure,

with a few touches that are particularly yours.

Let's say we tried to create a trait d'union,

it's a bit like what represents us, the love between Italy and France,

this place, so we took pieces of France, pieces of Italy

and we made sure they fit together.

For the furnishings, in general, we chose lots of vintage pieces.

Even the staircase is a vintage piece, because the entrance staircase that connects

the floors of the house is, in the end, another of the very few pieces,

in the house that we managed to preserve completely.

Obviously, we had to restore it and repaint it.

When we thought about this living room,

the important thing for us was to have friends and family,

so instead of having different corners, maybe with smaller armchairs,

we chose the large sofa to have children, dogs,

all go to sleep, and a large table for our friends,

our family... It's really a place that was designed

to welcome our loved ones in comfort.

I love Osanna Visconti, we got these candlesticks

because they reminded me of the whole aquatic world,

because they almost look like coral.

Then we have a lady there on the wall among the shells

who is absolutely gorgeous.

Ah, I love looking at her, and the one behind us, is very beautiful.

I must say that I really appreciate it, always a choice

made by Gabrielle, of course, a shared choice, but inspired by you,

this wonderful table that I find...

At first I was almost hesitant, when I saw it

as a stand-alone object, then when I saw it in the space

I really understood how, in reality, it plays down perfectly

the elegance and formality of other elements in this room.

When we got married, we did this really nice thing,

we made a wave table all mirrored

at sunset, so you had the blue sky

these candles that were reflected in two layers. It was wonderful.

Gabrielle thought of the table already with the carvings

to mark the places of our guests

and leaving all the centerpieces inside.

So, she has already organized how everyone will sit at the table,

but the effect is beautiful. Then this mirror, which is antique,

maintains the style of the room.

This armchair, actually, wasn't supposed to end up here,

but when we arrived in this house

none of our furniture was here yet.

It was the first thing that arrived. And then I don't know,

in the end it was something that wasn't planned,

but we fell in love with it and left it here.

So every now and then you think and plan a space,

but suddenly you like a mistake better.

So yes, it's nice to leave room for... the unexpected.

Instead, here we are in Riccardo's studio,

which... is his studio, of course. I've added a few things of my own,

I've put some books there. After a certain time of day, it becomes

a place for the family, where we relax, we have games,

music, though, for the rest of the time, it's Riccardo's kingdom.

Yes, let's say it's a dual-purpose room.

During the day I make my work calls.

so it's a work environment. I also have some collaborators

who really enjoy coming to visit us at the lake

and work from here, so I also hold meetings

and then, from a certain time onwards, we open the hidden bar

which is inside this wonderful desk,

we put a record on the turntable... Here is my record collection,

we have books on our passions, inside the bookcase we also have

lots of board games to play with the kids or with friends.

We spend wonderful evenings together.

Who gave you this desk?

When? When?

You didn't even have a house yet. No, of course not, that's true.

Now you've finally found a place..

We found a place for this desk.

That's right.

Guys, welcome to my kingdom, as my husband calls it.

I had to fight for this space,

because at first he wanted it,

but I managed it. It's a space I use as a walk-in wardrobe

and also as an office. Since I'm not very organized,

I chose to keep everything closed so I don't have to see my mess around.

This is my desk where I have this beautiful armchair

made of horsehair that I absolutely love.

I keep all my collections, my brand archive

and here I also keep the most precious dress I have

which is my wedding dress, which I keep strictly

for my daughter Charlotte, who maybe, one day,

will want to get married in my dress.

And this is my paradise where no one can come and take me away

or look for me, and I'm here, peaceful, calm.

Well, after Gabrielle won the other room, as you can see,

she didn't leave me in a bad way. Quite the opposite. That's her kingdom,

this is kind of mine. There are also a number of wardrobes here

that allow me to have my collection of shoes, clothes, etc.

but then above all, as you can see,

I was given and designed

this wonderful area where I can train.

It was designed with an iron core behind it, which obviously allowed

hang all these pieces, barbells, discs, etc.

But at the same time, as you can see,

they tried to maintain the same aesthetic taste

as the rest of the house. So absolute functionality,

but at the same time with a classic and elegant aesthetic,

like the rest of the house.

Another aspect that I really like about this room

is that there are three Italian excellences that have collaborated,

so we have Molteni who made the cabinets,

Technologym who, of course, as you can see,

supplied all the equipment

and Busnelli, which is a smaller company,

but of enormous value, created this wall

which was studied and designed specifically

and in fact deals with made-to-measure furniture.

Welcome to my temple of relaxation.

This is a very special room where we started with this bathtub,

because it's really a bathroom for bathing

and therefore stay in the water. We took this huge bathtub

just so we could all fit in it, take a bath with the children...

The whole idea for this room actually started with the choice

of this velvety onyx

which reminded me of water and waves.

And from there we looked for these vintage pieces

shaped like shells that are no longer in production.

It's a Ginori production from the 1970s, I think.

And we built this temple of relaxation where, once again,

when the kids are in bed, we fill the bathtub,

light candles, and listen to some music.

It's really a place at the end of the day to get ready for bed

and wind down.

This is a burgundy kitchen, which is a color that we find

in many rooms in the house.

We chose this color because it's very warm

which contrasts with the green we see from the window

from which we can see this beautiful forest.

It's a kitchen where the spaces have been carefully designed,

because it's not huge.

There is a mix of vintage pieces and more modern things.

I'm in love with this oven. Yes.

It's the first time we have an oven worthy of its name in our house.

It's absolutely wonderful, it's the jewel of this kitchen.

But I love this detail, also because I can cook

two or three dishes very well,

but they're all pasta dishes.

And having a tap to fill the pot

where you cook the pasta directly on the stove is very convenient.

Then again, it's not like it was that far to go.

But... But, anyway,

it's a detail, I mean, very interesting.

Thank you for coming to see us. It was a real pleasure.