The countryside’s residence and the five senses

“I love every moment of the year. The countryside’s residence gives the possibility to fully delight the seasons’, colours’ and scents’ succession, the particular sensations that each of them is able to spread.

On further refletion, I think the best moment is autumn.

The colours and the light, above all the sun’s going down during the good weather, are matchless. It really gives a feeling of “torment”.

These are the words of the lawyer Giovanni La Penna, answering to the question: which is the season you prefer living in the dwelling the most and why?

The countyside’s residence is noticeable for its particular location. Surrounded by the green, it overlooks a huge hill area situated in Conca di Suso, a Sezze Romano’s suburb, a hill village in Latina’s province.

The entrance boulevard in La Penna’s residence is characterized by a line of pines that in a meticulous way marks the distance that divide it from the main entrance. Actually that warm light, whose the lawyer was talking before, of a warm autumn afternoon wraps around the residence and it makes pleasant the view on the main front. The curious look of the visitor is guided by an embracing smell of pine needle, wild berry from the near woods, and by the small animal’s call that live in those places, so that every sense is gratified.

The view from the last floor on the entrance boulevard is the most interesting one, as well as the favourite one by the lawyer, who explains us how the feeling of the depth of the overall view, intensified by the downgrading evolution of the boulevard and the pine’s foliage that runs along it gives a feeling of freedom and deep calm.

At the sunset, the sun goes down in the sea, whose view is blocked by Sezze’s hill, but it is foreseen in the distance.

It tells us about the colours, from the strong yellow up to violet, that are hard to describe. They should be caught in that passing moment that precede the disappearance of the sun.

The great curiosity that I feel with this conversation is aimed at the lawyer’s childhood memories and, for example, at how they used the kitchen.

La Penna remembers with pleasure the sense of a sharing time and how that countryside’s living room has been linked to the good weather.

The aunts who used to live in the dwelling for the summer’s vacation, used to move here from June to late autumn, usually after the grape harvest, that used always to be tardive.

“I pleasantly remember the sharing life, that was a distinguish sign, a life style of that time. It was a way of living supported by the huge spaces of that period’s houses: the big living room, the hospitable and comfortable kitchen, the numerous and noisy dining hall, the absence of waht we today call “privacy”, but that maybe is just loneliness”.

Actually in the big living room at the ground floor and on which every four location have the exposure, the Lords receive us with a genuine hospitality.

One of the four location is the kitchen, characterized by a large hood and rich in detalis that recall the times of the lawyer’s aunts.

On the solid wood table there is a fresh season fruit basket, between which delicious pomegranates just picked from their garden. Between this infinite range of autumnal tastes it can’t be missed the classical sour cherry jam tart. All these delights are combined with a pleasant raisin wine.

“Luckily I share my love for the house and for the countryside surrounding it with my wife and our son. Both of them passionated as me.

It’s above all my wife’s Brunella value for the personal commitment in which she gave generously during the restoration’s works and for her caring self denial, if it was possible to take the house away from the time destruction and if it has come back to a new life.

I consider it a sharing action, but first of all a gesture of love towards me. I will always be grateful to her, beacuse without her it wouldn’t have been the same thing”.

This loving and sharing gesture hold the meaning of the property’s recovery, characterized by a careful restoration that keep unchanged the historical memories thanks to a meticulous material’s selection. The skilful insertion of some contemporary elements, as lighted units, underlines the refined beauty of the locations.

“I’m glad, the lawyer concludes, and also happily surprised of your interest in the place that is the heart of my loved ones.

What rewards me the most is to see how the friends coming to visit us and also the little known people, are immediately at ease, giving up any useless formalism and overcoming any reserve and shyness. For this reason it is a pleasure for us to freely open the house, without making anyone feel like a guest and enjoy together the condition of rare tranquillity. We are very grateful to everybody for this sharing”.

A sharable life philosophy, that of La Penna’s lords, that makes even more interesting a residence like this, surrounded by the natural beauties of Lepini’s Mounts, from where it is possible to appreciate the time passage with the seasons succession, each of them with its innumerabile scents, tastes, sounds, views that highlight themselves as a pleasant childhood memory.