A 16th-century fortified farmhouse in the Ragusa countryside: enclosed courtyard, stone wings, chapel, entrance hall and three rural buildings on the estate.
The southern front, toward the garden and the south portal.
The Iblean baglio is an organism closed toward the countryside and open toward itself. Thick limestone walls, a portal that filters entry, a courtyard onto which the rooms of work and dwelling look, a chapel, an entrance hall, the roofs from which the land is seen: this is the form the sixteenth century left in the Ragusa area, and which the restoration of Baglio San Michele intends to make habitable again without overturning it.
The drawing published on this page is the document from which the space is read. Ground floor and first floor, South, West and North wings still standing, a portion of the East wing to be rebuilt from scratch, chapel, workshops, entrance halls, garden to the south and three rural buildings outside the enclosure. The final figures for the units will come from Phase 0 of design; the geometry of the place is already this one.
PROJECT DRAWING
Plan of the Baglio
Ground floor at the centre of the sheet, first floor below. The compass points downward: north is at the bottom, the East wing to the left, the garden and south portal at the top. Tap or click to open the drawing at full resolution; on a narrow screen it can be scrolled horizontally.
The courtyard occupies the centre. The compass on the drawing points downward: on the sheet south is at the top, north at the bottom, east to the left, west to the right. At the top, the South Wing with the southern entrance hall (portal onto the fields) and apartments 11–15. To the right, the West Wing with apartments 4–10. At the bottom, the North Wing with the northern entrance hall (portal onto the outer garden) and apartments 1–3. To the left, the East Wing: workshop, laboratories and chapter house facing the courtyard; apartments 16–21 to be rebuilt from scratch. The chapel, with sacristy, stands at the north-east corner.
Outside the enclosure, Building 1 (135 m², of which about 60 existing) is the house facing the south portal. Building 2 (85 m²) is a restoration in Phase 2; Building 3 (175 m²) a reconstruction in Phase 2.
First floor
The first-floor drawing is the central body of the North Wing — the Tower — with anteroom, sitting room, library, bedrooms. To the east, the new rooms to be rebuilt from scratch. Terrace, verandah loggia and internal stairs complete the crown.
The vertical path of entrance hall–stairs–terrace is the baglio’s air chimney: air enters, rises and leaves through the roofs.
Body
Position
On the drawing
Courtyard
Centre
Façades of the wings, well on the west side
South Wing
Southern front (at the top of the sheet)
South entrance hall · APT. 11–15
West Wing
Western front (to the right of the sheet)
APT. 4–10
North Wing
Northern front (at the bottom of the sheet)
North entrance hall · APT. 1–3
East Wing
Eastern front (to the left of the sheet)
Workshop, laboratories, chapter house · APT. 16–21 to be rebuilt from scratch
Entrance halls
South and North
Portal onto the fields (south) · portal onto the outer garden (north)
Chapel
North-east corner
With arch and sacristy
Workshops
East Wing, facing the courtyard
Workshop, laboratories, chapter house
Building 1
Facing the south portal
135 m² (≈60 m² existing)
Building 2
Outside the enclosure
85 m² · restoration in Phase 2
Building 3
Outside the enclosure
175 m² · reconstruction in Phase 2
Phase 1 works on the existing wings: South, West, North, and on the courtyard-facing body of the East Wing (workshop, laboratories, chapter house, chapel). Fourteen units, among apartments for families and cells for young singles in formation. The drawing numbers the rooms; the final partition belongs to the restoration project. The portion of the East wing to be rebuilt from scratch (apartments 16–21) and the three rural buildings belong to Phase 2.
The courtyard
At the centre of the baglio there is no decorative void. There is a climatic and social device: the courtyard protects from sun and wind, collects water, distributes access, and holds together those who inhabit the wings. The ground-level basin, heir to the Mediterranean fisqiya, and the floor channels cool by evaporation; around them, the façades remain in shade for much of the day.
The courtyard, heart of the organism and measure of every wing.The same courtyard in the evening, when the stone gives back the heat of the day.
The wings
A complete baglio closes the courtyard on four sides. Three wings still stand — South, West and North. Of the East Wing the body facing the courtyard remains (workshop, laboratories, chapter house, chapel); apartments 16–21, on the eastern front, are to be rebuilt from scratch. The South Wing looks onto the garden and carries the southern entrance hall, with the portal onto the fields. The West Wing is the western front, already numbered on the drawing (apartments 4–10). The North Wing closes the enclosure toward the north, with the entrance hall onto the outer garden.
South Wing
Southern entrance hall and apartments 11–15. Vaults, tuff walls, access from the courtyard and, for some rooms, from the garden. At the top of the sheet.
West Wing
Apartments 4–10 on the western front. It is the wing the drawing shows to the right, already standing, west of the courtyard.
North Wing
Northern entrance hall and apartments 1–3. At the bottom of the sheet. On the first floor it is the body of the Tower.
East Wing
Workshop, laboratories and chapter house remain facing the courtyard. The portion to be rebuilt from scratch is that of apartments 16–21, in the stone and typology of the baglio.
The study model: the organism is understood as a whole, not room by room.
Entrance halls, chapel, workshops, garden
Beyond the dwellings the baglio holds the spaces that make it a collective house and not a rural condominium. The entrance halls are the thresholds: to the south the portal onto the fields, to the north the portal onto the outer garden. Whoever enters leaves the countryside and arrives in the courtyard. The chapel, at the north-east corner, is the sacred space that every Iblean baglio reserved within the enclosure. The workshops, on the East Wing toward the courtyard, return to being workshops. The garden to the south, beyond the portal, is the agricultural anteroom of the enclosure, not an ornamental park.
Entrance halls
Two thresholds: entrance hall of the South Wing (portal onto the fields and into the baglio) and entrance hall of the North Wing (portal onto the outer garden and gate into the baglio).
Chapel
North-east corner of the enclosure, with arch and sacristy. The liturgical space remains inside the walls, as in the historic typology of the baglio.
Workshops
On the East Wing, toward the courtyard: workshop, laboratories and chapter house. Here the trades of the Archivum Artium will have their seat, a short distance from the dwellings.
Garden and south portal
Beyond the southern portal the garden opens, then Building 1. It is the side from which the baglio looks onto its own land.
Water, stone, air
The restoration does not add a visible air-conditioning plant. It takes up the devices of the Iblean baglio and of the Mediterranean tradition: thermal mass of the walls, pergolas, vertical air paths, water in the courtyard. Water cools, stone accumulates, air rises. The genealogy of these gestures is written at length in Historical Roots; the energy picture, in Energy Autonomy.
Salsabil and capture principles: water as a cooler, not as an ornament.The pergola cuts the summer sun and lets the air through; in winter the bare stone works alone.
The three rural buildings
On the lands of the farmhouse, outside the historic enclosure, the drawing places three bodies in Iblean stone. They are not a village of twenty lots: they are three buildings, sized on the drawing. Building 1, 135 m² of which about 60 existing, is the house facing the south portal. Building 2, 85 m², is a restoration in Phase 2. Building 3, 175 m², a reconstruction in Phase 2. They belong to Phase 2, together with the portion of the East Wing to be rebuilt. Families who have lived in an apartment of the baglio may, if the household grows, move to one of these bodies according to the transition mechanism defined by the Chapter of the Savi.
Building 1
135 m²
House facing the south portal. About 60 m² existing, to be restored; the rest, a collapsed part to be rebuilt.
Building 2
85 m²
Restoration in Phase 2. The most contained of the three rural bodies, outside the historic enclosure.
Building 3
175 m²
Reconstruction in Phase 2. The largest body, on the lands of the farmhouse, outside the enclosure.
The lands to the south: the rural buildings remain in the landscape of the farmhouse, not on a separate residential plot.
Two phases, one organism
PHASE 1
The historic baglio
Philological restoration of the South, West and North wings, of the existing portion of the East Wing, of the entrance halls, the chapel, the workshops and the courtyard. Fourteen residential units: apartments for families and cells for young singles in formation. Natural climate control, local materials, no volumes added onto the existing enclosure.
PHASE 2
Portion of the East Wing and rural buildings
Reconstruction from scratch of the portion of the East Wing (apartments 16–21) and construction of Buildings 1, 2 and 3 in Iblean stone on the lands of the farmhouse. The courtyard closes again on four sides; the three rural bodies remain outside the enclosure, sized for a larger household.
Times, costs and internal partitions are on the page The Project. The genealogy of the typology is in Historical Roots. The relation with the Ragusa area is in Territory.
Whoever comes to live here does not buy a view. They enter a stone enclosure that already has a form, a courtyard, a chapel and a relation with the lands around it. The drawing serves this: to show the place before the discourse on the project.
