Artist Ludovica Basso opens the doors to her colourful stone house by the Italian Riviera
Meet & greet
Ludovica Basso aka Clorophilla (illustrator).
The property
Ligurian stone house and art B&B in Borgio Verezzi, Italy.
From the terrace of her home A Crueza, so named because “I liked this word for its sound”, Italian illustrator Ludovica Basso aka Clorophilla draws and looks off to the horizon. In the background,
a blue stretch of Ligurian coastline, and not far from her house is Finale Ligure, the village where she was born.
An artist and dreamer, Ludovica couldn’t arrive in Borgio Verezzi and not be inspired by the magic of a Saracen village suspended in time, with its ancient stone houses, woods and cultivated terraces. “This is my buen retiro (pleasant retreat),” she says, a little part of the world, where she returns to whenever she can in search of peace and inspiration within the walls of a former 14th-century olive oil mill.
It’s the right distance from the chaos of busy Aurelia Road and the coast below. “The sea is only about 10 minutes away by car,” says Ludovica.
From the centre of Borgio, you go up a few steep, hairpin bends and hidden among the vegetation of Mediterranean scrub you find the first group of houses, the hamlet of Poggio followed by Piazza, Roccaro
and then Crosa, where Ludovica lives. It’s not hard to imagine simpler times at A Creuza, an old mule leading a wagon through the valleys along a path to the sea.
Ludovica’s house seems to have been carved out of the rock, with its two floors connected by a stone staircase. There’s a flat roof, cross vaults and an ancient topia, the characteristic wooden pergola that covers the terrace. “The Arab influences on architecture is due to the Saracens,” Ludovica explains. “It seems that the pirates, falling in love with this landscape, abandoned their trades to come and live here. This place fascinated me immediately.”
It was an amazing opportunity and Ludovica felt as if this refuge had been waiting for her. Of course, the house wasn’t in great condition and needed to be fixed from top to bottom. It hadn’t been lived in for several years and humidity had damaged the walls. The external facades needed work and the original pink Verezzi stone brought back to their former glory. The walls, more than half a metre thick, needed to be insulated; heating had to be added and the kitchen and bathrooms overhauled. The list of jobs was long. While a local craftsman, an expert in traditional techniques, helped her with the heavier work, Ludovica painted the walls of the rooms in the bright greens and blues of the bay. Then, as
a last step, she arranged the furnishings and let her creativity roam wild throughout the house, which in its almost primitive simplicity, is now the perfect setting for her artwork.
The artist’s works inhabit a feminine universe populated by mermaids, gypsies and votive offerings, with hearts on fire, eyes and hands, falling stars and moon symbols used as common motifs. “I like to imagine this place as my creative hub,” she says.
Ludovica, who studied art and photography in Turin, draws inspiration from the natural world when decorating. Furniture, paintings, masks, candle holders, plates, the embroidery on the cushions and table napkins, as well as the murals on the walls, attest to her creativity. Leaving a mark on the things surrounding her has always been a necessity, and she enjoys experimenting with different materials
and techniques.
Today, however, when she is not travelling around the world, there’s no better place to be than her beloved Liguria, she says. “The sea and the sunsets, and the light on the terrace is magical.”
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