Before & After: Here’s What It Took to Give a Historic Palazzo a Royal Revamp

When Manuel Strebinger first saw this historic palazzo in the car-free center of Nardò, Italy, he thought: "It’s too big." It wasn’t just the 3,229-square-foot layout that was grand, but the interior proportions as well, as many of the rooms have 21-foot-tall star-vaulted ceilings. The estate had sat vacant for decades, it was missing doors and window glass, and it was home to a flock of pigeons. So Manuel, and his then-partner, and now co-owner Stefan Davids, kept up their search.