“I give you a dream…” Conceived as an ode to Sicilian culture, Dimora delle Balze celebrates the past, present, and future of this magnificent land. Originally imagined as a place for the family to gather, the vision of the project widened once they enlisted designers Stefano Guidotti and Draga Obradovic to breathe life into the once noble manor house and surrounding farm. Together, they stripped back the layers of time to reveal the home’s original character and blended those discoveries with their own unique contemporary design sensibility. Dimore delle Balze, set amongst the olive trees and rolling hills of the Iblea Valley, was constructed in 1886 by the nobleman Don Salvatore Zocco. Occupying a wild expanse of verdant land known locally as ‘il Passo Ladro,’ the estate was built as a fortified compound, with tall crenelated walls surrounding a central courtyard and an imposing turret at the entrance. Though mostly used by the Zocco family as a summertime retreat, great care was put into its completion, with fragrant gardens lined by Byzantine columns, ornate frescoes on the tall, vaulted ceilings, and striking neoclassical detailing on buildings’ facades. For decades, the vast surrounding estate was used as farmland. And while the wealthy family came and went throughout the year, the Masseria was always inhabited by the peasant farmers that worked the land, who lived and worked in the rooms that now make up the majority of the residences.