The Refurbishment

Starting point: Alexandra Dell’Agnolo follows her mothers steps and the ones of all the women who successfully ran the guesthouse before her. For years she’s been running the Tarscher Wirt when suddenly a great idea burst into her mind. With her sister Sylvia, who is an architect and renovation expert for listed buildings, the first ideas to give the house a new lease of life are discussed. Tradition reclaims its right to exist.

The challenges (many): how to heat up the whole house? How to install modern bathrooms? How to restore the ceiling fresco? Who should refurbish the floors and windows?  Jobs for real professionals, sometimes small local companies that strictly follow traditional procedures.

Let's have a closer look:

The ceiling fresco: once access to the historicist painting was gained, we followed these steps: removal of the most recent paint layers using small spatulas, Stanley-knives, chisels  and a glass-fibre pen, and finally a thorough clean with sponges.

The walls: the historicist tapestries were in a really poor state, partly covered by other layers of paint. In the hall we carried out minor repairs, a few tweaks here and there, while the surrounding rooms needed proper reconstruction work.

The floor: we removed, cleaned and sanded the original boards… that’s it. And then we placed them on a new underfloor. The result: the floor no longer screaks, the noise is muffled and the feeling of the room is kept natural.

The bathrooms: all bathrooms are new. Simple, linear, neutral colours, an interesting contrast with the ancient walls.

The furniture: across the centuries, the landladies have accumulated a number of gorgeous furniture. Today we have a collection of rare examples of well crafted, valuable pieces of furniture which have been lovingly refurbished and made functional again. Obviously we had to place some new furniture here and there, particularly new beds and wardrobes, all creations by Sylvia Dell’Agnolo.

Shortly: the Riesen, a treasure of history. We made a point in preserving the past life of the house and taking it to the 21st century in all its splendour. With a great deal of respect and love for this place, we merged history and new creations. This results in harmony.