Enter into a wood-paneled room that beckons you back in time to a late 16th-century home in the northern Italian town of Chiavenna. The town's location at the juncture of two alpine trade routes gave it wealth and status as an important customs stationâbut also a bitterly cold and long winter. In response, wealthy families built thick-walled stone homes and often lined common rooms with wood paneling which provided both insulating warmth and beauty.
The unfinished spruce walls and carved willow decoration of the Italian Room recall the stone architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. Plain panels alternate with plasters crowned with composite capitalsâa mixture of Ionic and Corinthian elements which became popular during the Renaissance. Look up, and you'll find an urn encircled by a wreath of pomegranate blossoms and fruit, associated with abundance and fertility.
The room originally would have contained a free-standing stove around which the family would gather on cold nights. The windows, fireplace, and floor are later additions.