Mario Cucinella Architects

Palazzo Senza Tempo

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

PALAZZO SENZA TEMPO

Mario Cucinella Architects

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Cemes SpA Bottai Group

MEP ENGINEER
Ing. Luca Sani

MANUFACTURERS
Rak ceramics, Biancone di Trani, Déco Decking, Euroforest, Fp Arredi, Secco, Sofica

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Ing. Augusto Bottai

FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Mario Cucinella

PROJECT MANAGERS
Tommaso Bettini, Emanuele Dionigi

WORKS DIRECTOR
Geom. Andrea Falchi

PROJECT TEAM
Biagio Amodio, Stefano Bastia, Paolo Greco, Alberto Menozzi,Marta Torsello, Augusta Zanzillo

PROJECT DIRECTOR
Marco Dell’Agli

PHOTOGRAPHS
Duccio Malagamba

AREA
2500 m²

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Peccioli, Italy

CATEGORY
Cultural Center, Extension

REVIVAL OF AN ITALIAN HILLTOWN

Designed by Mario Cucinella Architects for the historic centre of Peccioli, Palazzo Senza Tempo is a response to the municipal administration’s desire to encourage new cultural programmes and commercial activity while enhancing the built heritage of this Medieval Tuscan hilltown.

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

“Peccioli is a real laboratory,” says Mario Cucinella. “In the project we wanted to carry on the idea that historical centres can give themselves a new life with contemporary elements, rather than living only in the past.”

Centred on a piazza overlooked by the Pisan Romanesque church of San Verano, the town of Peccioli is set high above vineyards and olive groves. A public building, Palazzo Senza Tempo comprises a range of renovated and repurposed townhouses dating as far back as the 14th century.

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

Set on the very edge of town, these enjoy direct views east across the unspoilt Era Valley and are now connected internally and externally to a wholly new two-storey building.

NEW CANTILEVERED PIAZZA ADDS 21ST-CENTURY LAYER

Spread over several levels, the old and new elements of the palazzo complex comprise apartments, exhibition galleries, study and co-working spaces, a multimedia library, café and restaurant, public meeting rooms, and a spectacular cantilevered 600 m2 terrace, or piazza, projecting over the landscape beyond.

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

“The new terrace is like a bridge connecting a landscape that looks like a painting from the 1500s with the modern world,” says Mario Cucinella.

“With the opening of Palazzo Senza Tempo, Peccioli launches an important theme: that of communities and their public places. It shows the courage of doing something ambitious while respecting history.”

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

INSIDE THE REVISITED PALAZZO

Voids, skylights, and bay windows bring welcome daylight inside, and a new glass roof over the passage of a historic courtyard adds visual permeability.

The renovated buildings form an interconnected whole, featuring venerable wood-beamed ceilings and, unexpectedly, a dramatic open-stone stair.

The architects’ response to the building reflects the nature of Italian hilltowns, with their successions of narrow alleys leading to wide and open civic spaces. Palazzo Senza Tempo creates the same sense of visual surprise.

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

The surprise continues when the palazzo reveals its new two-storey building. Glazed on three sides, it provides framed views of the landscape.

Stepping up and down several levels, lined in wood and with a detailed level of craftsmanship, this is a contemporary building that pays full respect to Peccioli’s historic fabric and setting.

It demonstrates how truly modern structures can be a natural part of Italian hilltowns wishing to be far more than living museums.

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba

FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

Palazzo Senza Tempo demonstrates how new architecture in dialogue with the public life of a town and its historic fabric can create fresh life and activity.

It exemplifies the potential for new vitality outside the big cities and the way in which the adaptive reuse of historic buildings is a wholly viable part of this development.

Palazzo Senza Tempo is a landmark project in demonstrating a bold yet befitting remodelling approach to Italy’s Medieval hilltowns.

Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba


Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba
Palazzo Senza Tempo
© Duccio Malagamba


Palazzo Senza Tempo
Section 
Palazzo Senza Tempo
Elevation 


Palazzo Senza Tempo
Detail 
Palazzo Senza Tempo
Detail 
Palazzo Senza Tempo
Detail 

Palazzo Senza Tempo
Ground Floor Plan 

Mario Cucinella Architects
T +39 051 6313381 F +39 051 6313316
Mario Cucinella Architects
Via Francesco Flora, 6, 40129 Bologna BO, Italy