casa döbeli, foundation holidays in heritage

Casa Döbeli is a Ticino town house with characteristic arcades and is located in the centre of the mountain village of Russo in the Onsernone Valley. The name of the house comes from its last resident, Markus Döbeli, a philosopher and dropout.

The historic house was handed over to the Foundation Holidays in Heritage in 2009 by the Ticino section of the Swiss Heritage Society as a building lease. A year later, restoration work began under the direction of architect Werner Duppenthaler from Mosogno. The work was limited to the bare essentials: historical elements such as built-in cupboards, walls, doors and stone elements were preserved and gently restored. Much was simply plastered, walls and ceilings as well as the old windows and doors were painted. The historic panelled ceilings were left as part of the house's history, as were some of the fixtures and fittings from the former owner of the house, Döbeli. The historic building substance was completely preserved.

As there was almost no furniture left in Casa Döbeli when the foundation took over the property, the interior had to be newly procured. Most of the furniture was sourced from Swiss furniture manufacturers and Swiss designers.

Architecture: Duppenthaler Werner architetti dipl. ETH
Photo: Zeljko Gataric Imhoff