U Mulinu Casanelli

Fozzano is a stone village in the hills of Corse-du-Sud, in the wild south-west of Corsica, inland from the Bay of Propriano. This is the island at its most itself: maquis scrub running down to the sea, jagged mountains behind, almond groves and low vineyards on the slopes, and sheep and cattle for neighbours. U Mulinu Casanelli sits at the top of a hill with a 360-degree view, the Gulf of Valinco and the Mediterranean on one side, the mountains on the other, and the beaches of the coast only five minutes below. The sun sets over the sea straight in front of the house.

The building was a ruin, an old stone wine press the locals still call the mill. Angélique Casanova and her husband Frédéric bought it and brought it back themselves. Because the dilapidated walls could not be rebuilt in the old materials, they made a clean decision instead: keep the old stone shell as a record of the past, and set a volume of exposed concrete and timber inside it as a modern counterpoint. Old and new meet at the doors and climb together to the roofline, with a round window marking the top floor above the jagged stone. Inside, the contemporary rooms are furnished with care, a Pipistrello lamp, a Gervasoni sofa, Ethnicraft pieces, and outside there is a saltwater pool facing the gulf, a vegetable garden, and the maquis all around.