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Since my mastery of video editing is really, really limited, I’ve decided to give you a house tour using stills for now. The house is ‘semi-interrata‘ which means the bottom floor is open to the outdoors on one side, but the earth is built up around the other three. So the original entrance leads to what will be the cantina (basement), which is not really counted as part of the livable house.
Bottom middle door was the main entrance. The door above it will have a wee balcony (it belongs to the reading nook you'll see later).
You can see how the earth is built up around the other sides of the house. To the left, just visible, is the concrete structure shown in the photo below.
And the concrete structure (the old toilet) is being removed so a new entrance, with French doors, can be created. That way we can directly enter the new kitchen from the garden.
Back to the cantina. When you first enter on the bottom floor, this is the main room. In order to make it legally livable we have to excavate the floor, so for now we're just going to clean it up and leave it as general unlived-in basement space.
From that room we go up the stairs towards the living room and kitchen, on what becomes the main floor.
The living/dining room, as seen from the stairs. The partially removed wall will be completely removed in the future.
At the top of the stairs turn left to this bedroom.
Or right, to the big bathroom with the double-whammy view from what will be the shower/bath.
The master bedroom also gets two windows.
The third bedroom is currently accessed through the master, so we're reworking the (massive stone) wall between them in order to be able to get to this room off the hall.
That’s it! I hope this helps you visualize the whole house a little better. Look at the photos along with the floor plans from the previous blog and hopefully you’ll be able to see how it all fits together.
Godzillavilla 
It was traditional for most European homes to have “cantine” or utility rooms throughout the bottom floor and the main living areas on the fist floor, so Godzilla is very traditional. Lots of work ahead, but it will be rewarding.
At first we wanted to make that area the guest section; with a separate entrance but access to the rest of the house, it’s perfect for friends or even B&B activity. But the excavation (and subsequent reinforcing of the fragile foundations that will disturb) is a big chunk of change so it’s off the job list for now. Oh well, cantine are useful!
Just so exciting Shelagh! I’m really glad you gave us the frame by frame option. Much prefer that. The tree trunk columns in the third bedroom are fabulous. I love it all. Thank you so much for the tour!
I never thought of the tree trunks as decorative but you have a good eye, that’s an interesting ornament! They are actually holding up the attic floor so the guys could stand on it to redo the roof. Those low ceilings in the bedrooms are all coming out because they’re rotted and, having redone the roof with lovely ‘trave a vista’ we want that soaring ceiling look. But a tree trunk post in the big bathroom, or the kitchen, would be brilliant. An fun echo of the construction phase.
Your house looks a lot like ours from the outside. As you know, we pulled the original house down and started again. It was too far gone. Ours was partly buried in the hill as well. We moved it bit on the site and have kept some of the old walls which be a backdrop for a terrace. I am choosing a kitchen today.
Wow – it looks fabulous now so will be stunning when renovated
I love the way you’re able to look past all the grossness and see what’s really there! Absolutely necessary if one is going to take on something like this.
I love terraces with stone wall backdrops, they have a great feel. I assume you’ll share your kitchen choice with us? There are so many style options these days, especially in Italy it seems.
Wow! What a project Shelagh! A lot of work but looks like fun. Can’t wait to see how it progresses and of course the finished project. Fill me in, are you moving there or is this a vacation home?
That’s a darned good question to which I don’t know the answer! We were living there when we bought it but then moved back to Canada. First I want to finish it – which is a process I love in itself – and then we’ll see where life is at. I imagine that initially it will be for (long!) vacations and a rental place when we’re not there.