You’d Never Know This Chapel in Tuscany Now Holds an Artist Residency

The exterior was preserved, but the interiors went from sacred to secular with a bright-blue stair, a kitchen, and a loft.

Text by

Grace Bernard

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Project Details:

Location: Fauglia, Italy

Architect: Atelier Vago / @atelier.vago

Footprint: 754 square feet

Photographer: Carlotta Di Sandro

From the Architect: "The Pailunga project, designed by Atelier Vago, transforms a small deconsecrated chapel in the Tuscan countryside into an artist residency. The original nave is preserved, while new functions—kitchen, services, a self-supporting iron staircase, and a wooden mezzanine for the sleeping area—are inserted with minimal impact, maintaining the central hall intact. Bright colors, such as the vivid blue of the staircase, create a deliberate contrast with the historic structure, highlighting its surviving traces. The apse, now dedicated to the piano, becomes the symbolic heart of the space, merging art with spirituality. Externally, no alterations were made: existing greenery and framed views of the landscape strengthen the dialogue between architecture and nature."