07 - Italy: The “opere murarie”

Rome: Colosseum

I am passionate about interior design and I love to travel. I thought I would combine the two here on my blog by giving you my top ten selection of the most inspiring countries in the world when it comes to interior design and architecture… I will present one country each month, over the next 10 months. This list is of course non exhaustive and rather based on my personal experiences and aspirations.

Italy is undeniably a worldwide leader in art and design. From the Romans to modern times, Italian creative flair has been a distinguished trademark and an enviable trendsetter. This alone, is a reason to include the peninsula into our list of most inspirational places for interior designers.

Another interesting fact is the Italian “opere murarie” or masonry. Italy was for two thousand years, a country where buildings of practically every sort were constructed exclusively of masonry. As a result of the geographical expansion of the Roman Empire, a major deforestation around the Mediterranean took place and the supply of wood on the Italian peninsula was exhausted at a very early date. Today it is breathtaking to visit long standing buildings such as the Colosseum in Rome completed over 2,000 years ago.