Alberto Cortez
From Rome to Ubud: The Evolution of Luxury Villa Design
The villa has a long an interesting history that is over 2000 years old. The first villas we think were built during the Roman Empire; it is amazing to think just how much luxury the ancient Roman civilisation had.
Villas today try to continue the legacy left by the Roman villa designers but add their own unique touch of style and design to create a more modern living experience.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman philosopher (died 79 AD) noted that there where two types of villa the villa urbana and the villa rustica; the latter was a country villa that could be easily reached from Rome for one or two nights (in the urbana or suburbs of Rome), the former was a farm-house estate constantly occupied and maintained by servants.
Villas of course were built for the wealthy upper-class and designed for comfort and style. Interestingly the villa rustica would have been occupied seasonally by their owners to escape the Roman summer heat in the hills surrounding the city. Interestingly the great Cicero apparently owned seven villas set in wonderful botanic gardens.
Does this seasonal inhabitation remind you of any modern practices’, how many holiday makers escape the rat-race to relax the mind, body and soul in the beautiful hills of Southern France, Tuscany in Italy or Ubud in Bali?
In terms of design it is difficult for art historians to discover who the designers and builders were of the ancient villas. The design story starts in Renaissance Italy a time that has so deeply influenced so much design and art since then.
Some of the greatest villas still standing are the Medici villas built in 15th century and designed by Michelozzi and Niccolo Tribolo. The later villas designed by Niccolo Tribolo are outstanding examples of Renaissance and Baroque architecture. These villas were very big and the opposite to the small boutique resorts you find today.
The first designer to pull the villa into the modern world was Andrea Palladio considered as one of the most influential individuals in the history of Western architecture. He designed and built villas in northern Italy for the Venetian aristocracy. By consolidating the stand-alone farm buildings into a single structure, and organising this structure to have a strong centre and symmetrical side-wings, Palladio was able to give a new breath of life into decaying old villas turning them into examples of deluxe styling accommodation.
In 18th century England a revival in the interest of Palladio and Inigo Jones led to the development of neo-palladian villas being built along the river Thames. At this time the word villa was being used to describe any big suburban house that was detached with landscaped botanic gardens. Eventually the term villa became to loosely used and dropped out of existence to be replaced by bungalow.
Now, the concept of the villa is mostly isolated to southern Europe, Latin America, German speaking countries and on the American west coast.
However, I suggest that there has been second Renaissance in villa design; this second Renaissance is based on transforming huge overpowering villas into small boutique resorts but still keeping the villa feeling. I have stayed in villas all over southern Europe and have felt underwhelmed by what they call deluxe styling accommodation, they tend to be second homes rented out for the summer, the care and attention is just not there.
I spent a one month on the island of Bali and spent two weeks in Bali’s cultural centre Ubud. I had heard that Bali has unbelievable, small boutique resorts and luxury villas for rent and was interested to see for myself. The competitive nature of Bali and especially Ubud villa rental means that all villa owners have to be on top of their game.
I searched Google for Ubud villa rental and found a charming little place called The Purist Villas. I had a wonderful time taking in all the cultural aspects of Balinese traditions in Ubud and my accommodation was the icing on the cake. The owner of this deluxe styling accommodation was also the designer and builder of the villa complex. His name is Alberto Cortes and I very much enjoyed speaking to him about the history of villa design.
Alberto Cortez suggests that European villas are too big and do not cater for the couple on holiday or for a small family that does not need 4 large bedrooms. Alberto Cortez designed a set of 2 bedroom villas in Ibiza that were massively popular. He applied elegant and simple design to this idea and bought it to Ubud. I was also surprised to find that accept for all the original pieces, every piece of furniture and fitting was designed by Alberto Cortez and his wife – the attention to detail is incredible.
I think it’s fantastic that we still continue the 2000 year old tradition of villa building. From the massive stately retreats of Cicero to the small boutique hotels in Ubud, humans really know how to live in style
About the Author
Alberto Cortez – Cuando un amigo se va
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