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Room with a View: The Club Room at Valcastello

Set against the dramatic Dolomites, Valcastello’s Club Room embodies a rare approach to preservation, where history is lived with, not restored away.

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The exterior of the Valcastello castle during the winter. Courtesy of Valcastello

There are places that announce themselves, and then there are places like Valcastello, a castle just outside Cortina d'Ampezzo that has spent the better part of a millennium perfecting the art of discretion. While the world beyond its walls transformed from medieval to ski resort, the Acquarone family, who still own the property today, simply continued living as they always had: surrounded by the beauty of timeless objects. 

Valcastello represents something increasingly rare: an estate that has not been restored or reinvented, but simply allowed to endure. When the family decided to convert a wing into guest suites in 2016, they did not search for period-appropriate furnishings. They looked to what was already there.

Left: A crystal chandelier in a Louis XVI inspired and Neoclassical-style chaise longue anchor the room. Courtesy of Valcastello. Right: A portrait of the Duchess d’Acquarone by Quadras, a mid-20th-century society portraitist. Courtesy of Valcastello.

The Club Room, designed by Italian architect Andrea Busiri Vici, is layered with monumental Aubusson tapestries, Chinese porcelain vases repurposed as lamps with handmade parchment shades, and hand-painted lampshades signed by Erich Mathes. Louis Vuitton and Gucci steamer trunks, worn by years of travel, sit alongside objects collected through a lifetime of adventure.

Above the stone fireplace hangs Alejo Vidal-Quadras’s portrait of the Duchess d’Acquarone, her gaze presiding over an eclectic architectural dialogue: Gio Ponti chairs, Rowland Ward taxidermy, and Peter Beard photographs share wall space with 17th-century Madonnas.

The blue and white Chinese vase originates from the family palazzo in Rome. The Aubusson tapestry depicts a crusader-inspired scene, and the porcelain vase is topped with a paper lampshade. Courtesy of Valcastello.

Valcastello’s evolution from summer refuge to winter residence mirrors Cortina’s own transformation during the ski boom of the 1950s and ’60s. Yet the estate never became a relic of that glamorous era. Instead, it continues to absorb the imprint of each new generation.

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