Villa Serafina

Villa Serafina was cut into the Romazzino cliff in 1987 by an owner who wanted the sea to do the decorating. Thirty-five years later, that instinct survives every renovation the house has been through — including the most recent, a three-season restoration that stripped the interiors back to their granite bones and started again.

The plan is deceptively simple. Three levels step down the rock, each one turning slightly to hold a different part of the bay. Living spaces occupy the middle terrace, opening entirely to the west so that the last two hours of light move through the house rather than past it. Bedrooms sit below, cooler and quieter, each with its own external stair to the water.

What cannot be photographed is the sound. The cliff geometry funnels the Tyrrhenian into the lower terrace at a volume that makes the property feel considerably more remote than its eleven-minute drive from Porto Cervo would suggest.