Interior design and lighting project by Simone Micheli Architect

Built by the recovery of a historic building of the ‘700 in the historic centre of Trapani – Sicily, Palazzo Gatto Art Hotel & Spa, is now a place where art and tradition, contemporary hospitality and hospitality from the ancient heart meet each other. Like a tale of wonder that takes shape with the context, Palazzo Gatto is a work that characterizes Trapani city centre, Sicily. Oppositions and desired contradictions enhance the cuts and internal volumes, creating space-time short circuits. The furnishings are essential, fluid, Franciscan thread, iconic protagonists of the three-dimensional show. White, pure objects are inserted in a cream-colored environment, built thanks to the use of local stone that covers the surfaces.

“The root that connects the sign of tradition to my dream of interior architecture and lighting technology, is represented by an abstract reflection on the meaning of Sicilian decoration. After having internalized the concept, I managed to transform it – thanks to the performances of the artist Pippo Torcivia – into concrete, manifest and contemporary traces of beauty. Small and large ceramic works, characterized by a deliberate simplification, alteration, interpretation of expressive “Sicilianism”, permeate the space as indispensable elements of a unique extraordinary totality.” Simone Micheli

Each furniture of the hotel has been created ad hoc, to allow this unlikely as the only volumetric area to be assimilated to a living and dynamic gallery within which you can also buy what you see. Light, like reinforced concrete, like physical matter, becomes a silent strategic prompter capable of enhancing volumes and geometries. Palazzo Gatto is a global work of art imagined to dialogue with guests, bringing to their unconscious attention intriguing narrative and aesthetic contents. It is an Icon capable of representing a dimension made of uniqueness, extraordinary and wonder.

Common Space & Rooms

The rooms are places of intimate charm. Intense spaces designed to give the guest a scene to feel the protagonist. In which poetry, beauty, well-being and attention to needs blend perfectly to bring new fragments of the future to the present time. They are suspended bubbles, which interrupt the current space-time thanks to the use of furniture with fluid and linear shapes, designed to be exactly where they are. The organic stone of Avola, kept intact in the majestic steps that connect the levels of Palazzo Gatto, is a tribute to the artisan tradition of Sicily.

The lighting of the common space spreads creating overlapping and fragmentation effects. Along the bleachers, below the beds, is expertly placed a colourful lighting that gives the visitor a feeling of lightness, immersing him in a suspended space-time dimension. Points of contact of the structure, the soft shapes and rounded style that we find in the space dedicated to the Front Office of the hotel, as well as in the headboards of the beds of Palazzo Gatto, bring to a gentle and delicate vision of the present.

Bathroom Area

“A unique and captivating aura of well-being binds each room to the bathroom area inside Palazzo Gatto, the welcoming structure that characterizes the centre of Trapani, Sicily – Italy, of which I took care of the interior design.” Simone Micheli

The stone that covers the floors of the rooms enters the bathrooms and, completely invading this space, creates unity. The screen-printed stained-glass windows act as a soft deterrent, leaving ambiguity to the space that deserves and the boundary between sight and imagination a central role. The elements that shape space are pure, manifest, high definition. Designed with the aim of translating the complexity of our time into simplicity of approach and execution in order to give clarity, understanding and well-being. The only note of colour catalysing the attention is the sink, which wisely recalls the tones characterizing the decorations in each room. A conceptual reference to what happens in the night part.

The Wellness Centre of Palazzo Gatto is defined by spaces where light, creeping into the back of mirrors and walls, allows the human eye to perceive corridors, rooms and walls in which depth is mastering. The common thread that links the connotation of the rooms and common areas is here taken from the ceramic discs. The rose gradation is particularly linked to the emotional sphere and aligned with the mood that the SPA of Palazzo Gatto wishes to convey to guests. The simple lines, soft and sinuous that surround the interiors of the entire structure, are made manifest in the spa through screen-printed glass.

Positioning itself above any other living space, the rooftop of Palazzo Gatto is configured as a place of pure and genuine quiet. The dissonance with the surrounding environment, conceptually understood as the foundation of the entire project, characterizes this place and allows the visitor to become the undisputed protagonist and integral part of the architectural scenario. The fluidity of the shapes makes the outdoor experience immersive, offering moments of sensorial well-being given by the harmony of shapes.

In a space delimited by a glass handrail, there is an area entirely dedicated to the regeneration of the senses.

Lighting System and Interior Design Project:  Simone Micheli Architect

Visual Design: Roberta Colla Micheli

Owner: Salvatore Imbordino

Photo: Jürgen Eheim

Opening Date:  July 2022

Classification: Four-star hotel – member BWH Hotel Group Italia/ BW Premier Collection

• 19 rooms and suites: Superior, Deluxe, Family Suite, Exclusive and Royal
• Restaurant with Mediterranean Cuisine and courtyard
• Vineyard, Rooftop and Rooflounge
• Wellness Centre & SPA