Sextantio, luxury and sustainability among the stones

“Minor historical heritage,” they call it. Because it was not designed and built by the most famous names in the history of architecture because it does not occupy the great cities of art, but is the heart, often abandoned, of quiet villages in our provinces. However, it can rise to the heights of world visibility thanks to the efforts of institutions such as UNESCO and enlightened private individuals. This is how it happened in the Sassi of Matera, a World Heritage Site since 1993. Those tufa caves happily populated from prehistoric times until the degradation of the early 1950s (the same one that made then Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi speak of a “national disgrace”) now house some of the most beautiful hotels in the world. One of these is undoubtedly Sextantio Le stanze della Civita, celebrated by the New York Times as “the most extraordinary destination in the world,” by the Times as “one of the ten most beautiful hotels on the international scene,” as well as being included by Condé Nast’s Tatler guide among “the hundred most beautiful hotels on the planet,” thanks to its philosophy of “emotional luxury” and sustainability. Typical Sassi dwellings have become 18 striking suite rooms (various sizes) furnished, lit, and enhanced concerning their history and context. The Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita project was born to create an idea of experiential hospitality outside the schemes of star rating and the common sense of “luxury hotel.” The entire complex- the founder, does not like to use the expression “diffuse hotel”-is located in the oldest part of the Sassi, the Civita, overlooking the Gravina stream, facing the rugged and fascinating landscape of the Murgia Park and its rock churches. It is designed for an educated, sophisticated user, a travel lover rather than tourism. The millennia-old white stone welcomes and tells without speaking. The soft warmth of the lights gives way in the morning to the blue
sky. “Our projects intend to safeguard Italy’s historical heritage, which sees its highest expression in small villages destined to be forgotten due to the passage of time and consequent abandonment. We also intervene in terms of protection and preservation of the surrounding landscape,” they tell from Sextantio, a group founded by Daniele Kihlgren and has a similar project under its belt in the Abruzzo village of S. Stefano di Sessanio.