m2atelier Reinvents Historic Genoa Villa Around a 150-Year-Old Bougainvillea

Key facts

• m2atelier founders Marijana Radovic and Marco Bonelli renovated a historic villa in Genoa’s Sant’Ilario neighborhood, atop the Nervi hill.
• The house was likely first built in the 17th century and renovated toward the end of the 19th century; it once belonged to a gardener who worked at Villa Bruzzo.
• Bonelli’s parents bought the abandoned property in the late 1970s; the restoration pays tribute to his father’s memory.
• A 150-year-old bougainvillea covering the façade was protected above all else during the renovation.
• The garden’s original structure was restored, preserving magnolias, agapanthus, pittosporum, holm oaks, and carob trees.
• The renovation reimagined the roof, systems, structures, floors, and layout while retaining 19th-century decorative details uncovered beneath paint, including floral garlands, vases, faux windows, buckets, and a trompe-l’oeil lion skin.
• Luserna stone was used for flooring, terraces, and the pool deck, laid in large bush-hammered and brushed slabs.
• A former barn became an open-concept living space connected by an underground corridor with circular skylights and steel tube cladding.