From rural house to “villa of delights”: knowledge and conservation of Villa Murat in the Sorrento peninsula

Thanks to an innovative territorial plan, drafted by Roberto Pane and Luigi Piccinato and approved in 1987, in the Sorrento peninsula many exceptional examples of vernacular architecture have been preserved. Some of these, born as rural houses inserted in agricultural estates, have been transformed over the centuries by subsequent aggregation of volumes, into more complex structures, in which agricultural and residential functions have long coexisted. This is what happened to Villa Rossi, later known as Villa Murat, in the municipality of Massa Lubrense: an initial nucleus, dating back to the 17th century, was expanded during the following century, adding volumes and regularizing an initially spontaneous architecture. Despite such transformations, Villa Murat still retains some constructive features which are typical of vernacular architecture of the Sorrento and Amalfi coasts, such as extradosed vaults covered with beaten lapillus or the loggias facing the sea. The villa, which in the meantime had become property of the Rossi family, intersected major historical events at the beginning of the 19th century, having become the headquarters of king Gioacchino Murat - hence its name - during the “Capture of Capri” against the British in 1808. Villa Murat, located in the quiet Annunziata hamlet, away from the centres that have undergone major alterations, has still been preserved fairly intact, even in the architectural surfaces, both internal and external ones. This made it possible to develop a thorough research also thanks to an integrated survey with both aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry and laser scanning. The final aim, as the paper will show, is to develop a conservative design proposal, with targeted actions of conservation of architectural surfaces and structural consolidation, that will allow to keep the physical integrity of the villa and its authenticity without renouncing to a possible but compatible enhancement.