Villa Girasole
By: Roberta Landman
Photography by: Art Holeman
Phoenix Home & Garden
October 2013
pp. 92-103
A Bit of Italy Comes to Rest on an Arizona Mountain
Except for a backdrop of saguaro cacti, this stone-clad dwelling might be centuries old and perched on a hillside in Italy’s Tuscany region.
In reality, the timeless-looking home and garden are just four years old and poised dramatically on a mountain northwest of Tucson.
With a cluster of varied rooflines and a distinctive bell tower, the 13,500-square-foot house appears to be terraced up the mountain terrain, says its architect, Jim Hann. “It is supposed to look like a Tuscan-Italian mountain village, based around a central courtyard, or piazza.” A splashing limestone fountain graces this courtyard, as well as a colonnade that looks as if it came from an old monastery.
Its owners have named the rambling residence Villa Girasole. Girasole (pronounced jee-ra-so-lay) means sunflower in Italian, explains the lady of the house, noting that the plant grows in profusion in Italy.
Of Italian-American heritage, she has been the guiding force in all facets of the home’s indoor and outdoor design, say Hann and builder Perry Mele. Over the years, she has made more than 20 visits to Italy; seven of those forays were devoted to obtaining ideas for her and her husband’s dream home. “I took all my favorite things in Italy and put them under one roof,” she remarks.
Custom doors and windows, most outdoor lighting and oversized terra-cotta pots came from Italy, as did inspiration for the below-ground wine cellar, huge farmhouse-style kitchen and fairy-tale bell tower, with its 200-year-old bell from a church in Michigan. The homeowner's visits to Italy secured historic Tuscan amenities as well.
On one trip, she and the builder found cotto, a hard terra-cotta-like clay material that Mele says is oven-baked at 800 degrees F. “It is baked for two to three weeks,” notes the homeowner. Used in many ways in Tuscany, cotto clads the Arizona kitchen’s barrel ceiling and flooring; it also is seen as flooring and other design elements elsewhere in the home. Mele, who went to Italy three times in conjunction with this project, says of the home’s Tuscan influence, “It is extremely authentic, painstakingly authentic.”
Set within a classic Italian-style landscape dotted with olive and cedar trees, boxwood hedges, an herb garden and a fig tree are several patios and a resort-like pool area that accommodate the couple’s entertainment-oriented lifestyle.
Although rooms are large, they have an intimate feel and are welcoming. This is a place where people love to gather, often to enjoy the homeowner’s Italian cooking. Villa Girasole is the dream house she envisioned. And, she comments, “I had the time of my life building it!”