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La Darbia on Lake Orta – Kalei­do­scope of bliss

Wine architects and a poet's muse. With a beguiling panorama of Lake Orta in Piedmont, La Darbia sits relaxed above it all. As if incidental, the property pulls out just about all the stops of the good life: it's all the fault of the people involved here. And the lake's of course.

by Britta Krämer in May 2022

“If there was one thing we didn’t have in mind, it was to become hote­liers”, laughs Gian Carlo Pri­ma­testa, still a little inc­re­dulous at the vagaries of life. Archi­tects in “normal” everyday work, he and his brother Matteo have ven­tured into unknown ter­ritory and trans­formed an aban­doned rural sett­lement into a quiet holiday retreat that will make your senses dance: With a breath-taking pan­orama of Piedmont’s Lake Orta, La Darbia towers above ever­y­thing and wil­lingly shares this box seat with its guests. The pro­perty is cele­brating its tenth anni­versary this month and anyone who has ever sat on the bench in the vineyard, lost in the view of the dreamy lake with a fine glass of rosé in their hand, has found a piece of hap­piness. How good that life some­times knows better!

Alpine-Medi­ter­ranean Tête-à-Tête

Only an hour north of Milan and not far from Novara and the Swiss border, the narrow, barely 13 km long Lake Orta shimmers in the lee of Monte Rosa, framed by the con­trasting land­scape of Piedmont. Quiet and peaceful, the sil­houette of the second highest peak in the Alps rises 4634 metres into the sky, and on the sur­rounding ter­raced hills vineyards and small vil­lages bask in the sun in an idyllic hillside setting. The mountain peaks are still covered in snow, but in the secluded gardens of his­toric villas along the lakeshore, magnolias and camellias are already blos­soming.
The Belle Époque gave Lago d’Orta and its pic­turesque lakeside towns eclectic buil­dings and beau­tiful pro­me­nades. If you stroll along the water, you will con­stantly come across small landing stages, boat­houses and scenic bel­ve­deres.
Lake Orta is con­sidered one of the most romantic lakes in Italy, but few people know it and flock to its better-known and larger “brothers” Lake Mag­giore and Lake Como. A fairy god­mother seems to have placed an invi­sible cloak over the piccolo lago, lifted only for those with a taste for quiet beauty. The horizon is near and far at the same time, and in the morning soft mists bathe the land­scape in a magical light. Lake Orta seems at peace within itself and emanates a sense of con­tem­plation, serenity and freedom.

Genius Loci

Lago d’Orta is a romantic mani­festo. And yet it never seems kitschy, never osten­ta­tious. The lake, whose light has thou­sands of facets, has a quiet ele­gance that does not need the loud notes to impress. Sobrio as the Ita­lians would say. Simple and the­r­efore intri­guingly beau­tiful. And mys­te­rious, like the small monastery island of San Giulio, which seems to float gracefully on the lake. If you wander along its Via del Silenzio – the path of silence – the very essence of this corner of Piedmont reveals to you directly and lingers on for a long time.

Above the eastern shore of the lake, at an altitude of 400 metres, lies the Sacro Monte d’Orta, one of the nine Sacred Moun­tains of Nor­thern Italy, all of which tog­ether have been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. The archi­tecture and atmo­sphere of the pil­grimage site, built between 1590 and 1785, is impressive: In the midst of a lush, land­scaped park, 20 chapels of dif­ferent sty­listic periods form a spiral cir­cular path and tell of the life and miracles of Francis of Assisi. A walk here is a truly medi­tative expe­rience, a sacred moment of the har­mo­nious interplay of archi­tecture, nature and genius loci.

Poet’s Muse

Lord Byron, Nietzsche and Balzac, like many other intellec­tuals and artists at the turn of the century, were inspired by the siren-like beauty of Lake Orta, and the mood of the time is still in the air. Imagine the three of them at a literary ren­dezvous on the lake: turn-of-the-century con­ver­sa­tions, phi­lo­so­phical dig­res­sions, many a realist-romantic dis­agreement. Then a sip of good, round Neb­biolo wine loosens the tongue, opens the heart and the poet-phi­lo­so­phers sigh in unison. It is said that Friedrich Nietzsche – in 1882 – kissed Lou Andreas Salomé, the woman who inspired him to write Thus Spoke Zara­thustra, on the Sacro Monte, which unsettled him so much that he wrote of his life in retro­spect in two sec­tions: “before Orta” and “after Orta”. Whether Lou or the lake setting was the more beguiling muse remains a mystery.

Patina

Orta San Giulio, a town of 1136 people on the east side of the lake, is a reve­lation. Time seems to have simply stood still here at some point. Medieval and baroque archi­tecture, colourful house façades and num­erous frescoes bear witness to the pro­sperity of a com­pa­ra­tively peaceful past: In the course of its history, Orta was pil­laged only once, in 1524, by the Sforza clan of Milan.
At the ent­rance to the village, the Moorish façade of the fabulous Villa Crespi attracts everyone’s attention; here Italy’s most popular star chef Antonio Canna­v­ac­ciuolo delights gourmet palates from all over the world.
From here you can walk to the car-free old town, which juts out into the lake as a pen­insula. Directly on the water­front, on the pic­turesque Piazza Motta, stands the legendary Albergo Orta, which has been closed for over 20 years and exudes – silent and still – the fasci­na­tingly decadent charm of the Belle Époque. Behind the patina-covered façades, you can sense the glamorous, nost­algic atmo­sphere of a Grand Budapest Hotel: Wes Anderson would have had a field day with this setting!
The water­front pro­menade leads past gracefully aged palazzi in the midst of almost exotic vege­tation. Everyday Italian life takes place on the piazza and is – why so? – so much more scenic than else­where: At the landing stages, whistling, the fer­rymen wait to ferry tou­rists and locals to the little monastery island, old women gossip tog­ether on benches in the shade of the chestnut trees, cats sleep on sun-warmed stones. The few visitors stroll pen­sively through narrow, cobbled alleys where ivy and wis­teria have con­quered the peeling house fronts. Again and again, glimpses of the lake reveal pic­turesque new vistas.

Orta manages without a sense of time – that is both charming and salutary. The ancient town coat of arms sym­bo­lises the idea of the hortus con­clusus, which was wide­spread in the Middle Ages, and shows Orta as a pro­tected garden that invites con­tem­plative lin­gering. A quiet, tim­eless place for spirit and soul. A little further up the slope, enthroned above the lake, is yet another blissful place, an oasis, a poem: La Darbia.

Wine archi­tects

Matteo and Gian Carlo Pri­ma­testa have their roots in the small village of Ameno on a hill above Orta. The climate here is mild, the soil fertile. They grew up here, with a view of the omni­present lake, influenced by the rural culture of Piedmont, its tra­di­tions and everyday rituals that mean one thing above all: hard work, dedi­cation and a deep respect for nature. Time passed, the boys became pas­sionate archi­tects who have made a name for them­selves with excep­tional wine archi­tecture, indus­trial buil­dings and tou­ristic pro­jects right on the water’s edge. The port­folio of their STUDIOPRIMATESTA fea­tures an illus­trious inter­na­tional cli­entele, but they don’t make a lot of noise about it. Still waters run deep.

Wine is the second great passion that Matteo and Gian Carlo share. “The love of wine has deep roots in our family. Our grand­parents were farmers, and our childhood was marked by the cycles of nature, its ele­ments, colours and fla­vours. The most exciting time of the year was the grape harvest: Family and friends gathered in the vineyards in the warm October sun and the trans­for­mation of the ripe grapes into fine wines was wondrous alchemy for us. The desire to make our own wine one day must have crept uncon­sciously into our minds and hearts at that time.”

In 2008, the brothers were offered the oppor­tunity to buy the com­pletely del­a­pi­dated Darbia estate with its ruined tower. At first they were not the least bit inte­rested: too much work in their own daily archi­tec­tural routine, their families had children… But sud­denly the long-che­rished dream of their own vineyard slipped back into their con­sciousness, and there was more: “One balmy summer evening we looked out from our house onto the lake and the island of San Giulio. And sud­denly there was this question, this vision: Why not revive the rural past of La Darbia and transform the place into a holiday retreat that con­nects with the essence of this corner of Piedmont? La Darbia is situated on the most beau­tiful slope of the eastern shore of the lake, from here the lake and Iso­lotto are at their best, the view is simply spec­ta­cular. And thanks to the rela­tively flat topo­graphy, it was quite con­ceivable to plant vines here.” All it took was a brief, brot­herly exchange of glances. In December 2010, the con­s­truction work began.

During the work, traces of an old, ter­raced vineyard, esti­mated to date back to the 18th century, was unco­vered. After the struc­tural inter­ven­tions were com­pleted, the brothers began – finally – to plant their own vineyard. Today, they produce a small, fine quantity of red wine and their own Brut Rosé Metodo Classico from the local Neb­biolo grape variety, which joins an asto­nishing sel­ection in the charming wine cellar – designed by STUDIOPRIMATESTA: an “Italian Journey” – from Friuli to Sicily – with more than 100 labels. Wine lovers will go weak at the knees here.

Tower stories

La Darbia is situated above Orta in the middle of an extensive forest and park with cen­turies-old chestnuts, horn­beams and maples. Where holiday plea­sures are enjoyed today, there was ori­gi­nally a small rural sett­lement that was farmed until the post-war period — mainly with vines and a plan­tation of apple, chestnut, walnut and per­s­immon trees.
The emblem of La Darbia is the simple stone tower, its grey granite tou­ching blue sky. Three storeys high, the tower con­tains the reception at the bottom and an apartment with a Rapunzel feeling and cine­matic view at the top. Looking at the unadorned building, you are reminded of medieval fort­resses and noble knights singing their sere­nades to aloof ladies. But the ori­ginal function of the tower was dif­ferent – far less romantic, but all the more deeply rooted in the rural culture of Piedmont: The so-called roccolo was a bota­nical-archi­tec­tural con­s­truction for cat­ching birds that ori­gi­nated in Piedmont from the 15th century onwards and became wide­spread throughout the foot­hills of Upper Italy in the 18th and 19th cen­turies. The “stone hunter’s stand” was framed by a laby­rin­thine network of bushy trees: not so easy to fly out of here again. With the official ban on bird hunting, the stone towers lost their meaning and purpose and, con­quered by vege­tation, just like Sleeping Beauty, were sent to sleep. One was lucky and was kissed awake. The reward fol­lowed promptly: Deep in the forest of Darbia, the brothers unco­vered a small miracle – an aqueduct over­grown by under­growth, whose spring ori­gi­nates directly on the pro­perty. The natu­rally pure drinking water gushes reliably from the foun­tains of the resort even in times of general water scarcity.

Essence

The crumbling tower has been rebuilt; all other buil­dings are new. The archi­tecture of Darbia reflects the heritage of ver­na­cular struc­tures, adapting it carefully and in silent dia­logue with the lake. The essence of this stretch of land, its cul­tural history and rural typo­logies became the leit­motif of the project, both archi­tec­tu­rally and in terms of content. The chro­matic concept of the inte­riors picks up on the nuanced colour palette of nature, while the pale beige façades echo rural arche­types, broken only here and there by the calm grey of compact blocks of split granite. Intro­verted towards the forest and over­grown with ivy, all the apart­ments open onto the garden with vineyard and salt­water pool. From here, the view wanders all the way to the lake and Monte Rosa.

The complex reflects the simple formal lan­guage of rural buil­dings and inte­grates local mate­rials, Medi­ter­ranean vege­tation and unadorned han­di­crafts. You walk over stone floors made of split gneiss, over tra­di­tional cob­ble­s­tones and mono­lithic steps made of hand-hewn rock. Instinc­tively, you feel the need to touch all the sur­faces: rough stone and solid wood, smooth lime plaster and and Corten steel. La Darbia is – also – a haptic expe­rience. The planning approach focuses on addressing all the senses holi­sti­cally without becoming noisy or stre­nuous. This is what makes this place so special: the archi­tecture gives peace and space, like a sen­sually tan­gible kindness.

For the 10th anni­versary, all 20 holiday apart­ments were restyled and now shine in new sple­ndour. The interior design plays with quiet, local aes­thetics and masters the balancing act between reduction and sophisti­cation. Rural ele­ments and simple ele­gance with a pinch of “retro” combine in a har­mo­nious syn­thesis and inte­grate – carefully mea­sured and almost “plastic free” – con­tem­porary comfort. Each apartment is dif­ferent – inside and out. Their names – “Buon­giorno Rosa” [Good Morning Rosa], “Frate Sole” [Brother Sun] or “A.D. 1880” – bring their rural past back to life, and those who follow the traces of their (hi)story, will delve deeper into the essence of La Darbia and its people. For just like Lake Orta, so are the people here: Filled with gent­leness, silence and depth.

In the sparse forest that pro­tec­tively sur­rounds the pro­perty boun­daries of La Darbia, old horn­beams and chestnut trees stand silent and still, pro­viding cool shade and who­lesome, green tran­quillity. As in the land­scape parks of the 19th century, you stroll through the Darbia estate and wait for the soul to begin to resonate. And it does.

Rituals

Matteo Mon­f­ri­notti, young but with a remar­kable cur­ri­culum, rocks the open kitchen in the on-site restaurant La Cucina. Open in the truest sense of the word, because lo chef himself has a yarn with the guests at the table and recom­mends the appro­priate menu choice, then with focussed moves and a per­fectly coor­di­nated team con­jures up culinary mas­ter­pieces on the plates. In the meantime, the guests enjoy the view of the lake, which the dining room stages through its floor-to-ceiling glass doors. Words are utterly ina­de­quate to describe the cuisine, which is both high culinary art and a deep nod to the rural tra­dition of Piedmont. If you let your gaze wander through the dining room, where guests and locals feast at table beside table, you notice a general slowing down of move­ments. Forks are brought to mouths rever­ently, wine is swirled and tasted with pursed lips; it grows quiet at the table, the faces – even those of the children! – look enrap­tured and also a little asto­nished at the unex­pected gust­atory fire­works.

In the warm season, the Garden of Eden makes its way into La Darbia: The private outdoor area of each apartment, the tas­tefully designed restaurant terrace and the idyllic seating islands amidst the raised beds of the Medi­ter­ranean orto bio­logico become the setting for must-have holiday rituals: a morning cap­puccino while the first rays of sun­light illu­minate the Monte Rosa and the ringing of the bells from the Sacro Monte, quiet reading time in the shade of the old chestnut trees, a mas­terfully mixed cocktail as an ape­ritif, fol­lowed by a fine cand­lelit dinner or an evening of good con­ver­sation at the long table under the pergola. Mys­te­rious and peaceful: the lake. The gods must be in love.

With the opening of La Darbia, the Pri­ma­testa brothers have ven­tured into hitherto unknown ter­ritory: the hotel business. The fact that the role of hosts initially fell to them was another lucky coin­ci­dence of life and pro­vided a con­vivial “sideline” to being archi­tects, which – for the past 10 years – has expe­ri­enced a revival every Wed­nesday evening. We won’t give any more away, but maybe just this: Gian Carlo cuts Parma ham with zen-like devotion, Matteo carefully pours fine wines into the glasses and both of them get that twinkle in their eyes…

Iconic

Speaking of shining eyes. The small, mys­te­rious lake not only inspired Nietzsche to great literary crea­tions, it has also written design history. The artisanal pro­cessing of metal has a cen­turies-old tra­dition here, and almost every style-loving kitchen in the Western world is likely to have an icon from Lago d’Orta – from the legendary kettle with the little red bird to elegant fit­tings and that octa­gonal diva made of alu­minium that became the epitome of the Italian way of life. From the 1920s onwards, legendary family busi­nesses such as Alessi, Bialetti and Fantini settled around the lake and exported il made in Italy around the globe; today, style purists from all over the world make a pil­grimage to the design temples on Lake Orta. The fact that only a few of the legendary brands are still family-owned is a sign of our times, but the local craft­smanship is as authentic and close to the place as ever.

Human dimension

La Darbia unfolds its charm quietly, and that is due to the people who shape this place. Ever­y­where you turn, it’s relaxed, it’s right and it reso­nates. The need for rela­ti­onships, for inspi­ration, lies dormant in all of us. When we encounter places and people that make some­thing in us vibrate, the value of life sets in. That is reso­nance. That is what makes us human. The hosts of the Darbia have inter­na­lised this prin­ciple, have emphatic antennae for the voices and life­styles of their guests, and so what doesn’t always work else­where suc­ceeds here quite natu­rally: the relaxed coexis­tence of dif­ferent guest con­stel­la­tions and holiday needs. In this way, La Darbia eludes any kind of tourist pige­on­holing and just does ever­y­thing a little dif­fer­ently. More beau­tiful somehow, and lighter.

The human dimension of the Darbia, the eye-to-eye encounter with the guests, the big ones as well as the little ones, is the essential impulse that sets in motion a per­petuum mobile of mindfully con­ceived and deeply enjoyed holiday moments: The shared grape harvest; the hea­venly hay-scented breakfast basket deli­vered directly to the apartment door every morning; quiet retreats and warm encounters; the fan­tastic play­ground with a flying fox. Or simply a fri­endly chat with Matteo, Gian Carlo, Angela or Federico. As if they had all the time in the world. Well, they take it. And that feels good and real.

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Text: Britta Krämer, May 2022

Photos: Ales­sandro Erbetta, Lewis Darby via Uns­plash, Walter Zerla, Bruno Pulici, Laura Fan­ta­cuzzi, Pier Maulini, Sanne Motza, Christian Brand­stätter, Gian Carlo and Matteo Pri­ma­testa, Britta Krämer

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