EIt was handed over to the city municipality, Villa Lercari Sauli known as ‘La Semplicità’, a 16th-century villa located in the heart of the Sampierdarena district and converted in the 1960s into a building for residential use.

The interior spaces of the ground floor have been completely renovated from an architectural and plant engineering point of view, pursuing a careful remodelling of the rooms in order to guarantee maximum flexibility in the choice of future uses. The premises can now be returned to the community to host a cafeteria and modular multifunctional rooms to be used as study rooms, spaces for exhibitions or events, and areas for children.

During the course of the work, the pre-existing Genoese grit paving, characterised by white Carrara marble squares and dark seminato backgrounds, was found underneath the rubber flooring to be removed. In agreement with the client, it was decided to restore it through a thorough cleaning and polishing process that brought it back to its original splendour.

On the outside, Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. restored the ancient serliana portal at the entrance of the villa, the only surviving element of the historic building, with an enhancement intervention aimed at restoring the serliana as the access door to the recovered spaces.

In restoring the marble columns of the portal, the signs of the bombing that hit the city of Genoa in 1944 and led to the almost total destruction of the original building were deliberately left visible, as a reminder of the events of the past and in particular the horrors of the Second World War.