The historic center of the Italian port city of Genoa is a labyrinth of alleyways. Overlooking these colorful, narrow thoroughfares, through a 300-year-old door, is an apartment occupying the two upper levels of a former palace from the 1600s. Meticulously renovated by Dodi Moss, the contemporary home for a naval engineer still carries a 17th-century patina.

“Given the originality of the urban context, we wanted to give maximum importance to the expressive aspects of the building shell and structure,” says architect Matteo Roca. “Priority was given to restoring the wooden ceiling, maintaining the bare walls of the attic, the windows, and the relationship with the other roof-scapes.”

According to Rocca, the ceiling structure “was the most complicated and economically demanding part” of the renovation. Each piece was disassembled, numbered, and repositioned exactly where it had been.

Despite the prevalence of wood, the 1,180-square-foot apartment feels fresh and minimalist. Since the client spends his working days in a cramped cabin on the water, he wanted bright, open spaces to enjoy while ashore. The appropriately named House for a Sea Dog comprises a series of fluid, connected quarters that feel luminous thanks to walls of white slaked lime.

“This material, unlike a typical wall, is not painted, but is naturally white and textured,” says Rocca. “The lime allows light to pass inside and reflect differently, creating a soft atmosphere immersed in light.”

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A pair of staircases fashioned out of black slate punctuates the home’s crisp interior. One leads to the mezzanine-level bedroom, where the effect of the dramatic wood ceiling is particularly magnified. The staircase, Rocca points out, “is proportioned to be perfectly framed in the arch of the entrance space.” It also subtly divides the main floor with a bathroom and relaxation area on one side and a reading room on the other.

The other staircase leads from the library up to the kitchen, which is found in an adjacent structure and opens to a 226-square-foot terrace lined in teak. From there, the homeowner can climb to a more capacious, 355-square-foot terrace. Both of these sunny hangouts offer views of the city and its collage of slate roofs and bell towers. The wood decks both reinforce a relationship with the interior and recall naval design.

Between the home’s front entrance and the highest terrace, “we wanted to enhance the natural path of ascent that was existent, like a vortex, an ascending architectural promenade [or] path that consequently touches all domestic spaces,” explains Rocca.

“We approached it as a restoration, as if we were on an ancient archaeological site, discovering the beauty and at the same time improving what was discovered,” says Rocca.

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Dodi Moss (Matteo Rocca and Jacopo Battistini) / @dodi.moss

Builder/General Contractor: Ledi snc

Interior Design: Dodi Moss

Woodworking: Silvio Balloi