A breeze from the past

After some bed-and-breakfast activity of our own – my friend stayed over when returning from her winter holiday in Finland to take care of her grandson in Madrid – I’ve continued tackling my Art & Décoration magazines. I haven’t reached but 2007 and my mind is still very much on Mediterranean interiors. So I thought I might show you another Italian B&B we have visited recently and loved.

It was a place called Il Respiro del Tempo we stayed in on our Ligurian tour last April. It is located in the little village of Quiliano some 7km inland from Savona by a small river bringing rain water from the hills. We were travelling by car and preferred a quiet place from where we could make day trips around the area while having a good night’s sleep in between. The place turned out to be ideal for our needs.

Note the trompe d'oeil shadows of the trompe d'oeil window heads.

A trompe d'oeil window on the right providing symmetry.

The beautiful painted exterior with the charming ornaments and trompe d’oeil decorations was very much to our liking.

Not to mention the interior where the handsome elements of the period building are visible everywhere. All spaces have gorgeous painted ornaments or floral motifs bordering the walls and ceiling.

Even the floors have ornamental decorations. In one of the French magazines I've been checking over flooring like this was called mosaïque de marbre. I am not sure but I would expect these to be a kind of marble mosaic, too.

The wifi was a bit on the slow side in the room so we sat in the lovely, specious lobby in the mornings and evenings. As we were travelling off season, we had it practically to ourselves.

We had a room with a private bath. This is such a small B&B I wouldn’t assume there to be any problems with a shared bathroom either. We also had a private terrace with a lovely mural of palm trees. It was pouring on the day we arrived and as we were away during the days we didn’t sit there at all. In the summertime, the rest of the long balcony serves as the breakfast room but at the time of our stay the weather was too chilly for that.

I noticed Il Respiro del Tempo has received very contradicting reviews. Some visitors have given it 10 out of 10 points while others haven’t liked it at all. I suppose if you book a room at any B&B and expect to get the framework and range of services of a first-class hotel you are bound to be disappointed. (The following photos show details of our room.)

We didn’t mind the few cracks and flaws of the setting at all. In fact, to us those add to the charm of an old palazzo. It does require very special expertise and craftsmanship to restore exteriors and interiors like this so you just can’t attack every little imperfection on your own. We thought the building had been very beautifully maintained.

The only downside to staying at a small village like this off season was the fact that there was only one restaurant in the neighbourhood. The restaurant on the ground floor of our palazzo was not operational and the bar seemed to be under refurbishment. However, we dined at the local La Fenice every night and were most happy with the meal each time. We should have known no village is too small for a decent restaurant in Italy any time of the year.