‘Call Me By Your Name’ takes place in a 17th-century Italian villa

Italian film director Luca Guadagnino is known for swoony films and their equally gorgeous production design—like the Milan-based I Am Love and A Bigger Splash, set on a small island in Italy (both star Tilda Swinton).

His latest Call Me By Your Name takes place in the commune of Moscazzano in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. Here, an old 17th-century mansion becomes the backdrop for most of the film, which, based on an André Aciman novel of the same name, tells the coming-of-age story of a 17-year-old boy in the summer of 1983.

Guadagnino tapped his friend and interior designer Violante Visconti di Modrone to dress the house, which was a bit of a formidable task, as the Villa Albergoni was quite large and virtually empty. To make the sets period-appropriate, Visconti and Guadagnino sourced furniture and paintings from antique shops and even contributed personal items from their own families.

Below are a few excerpts from The Spaces’ conversation with Visconti. You can read the full interview and see more photos here.

On how Guadagnino imagined the villa to look:

Luca also wanted the villa to feel like a family home that was really loved by its owner. I wanted to convey the feeling of time passing, that people were there long before this family.

On the challenges of decorating a huge space in a short amount of time:

The villa was basically empty when we first went in, so I had to work out how we were going to do this in such a short space of time – we only had three weeks from sourcing the props to finishing the decoration. You don’t just have to put the furniture in, you have to decide what color you want to paint the walls and what to hang where.

On how to bring a room to life:

The first thing I think about is the harmony of the room, whether or not and how things fit together. Not everything needs to match, but to create a home you need to create a balance, because every object says something about the people that live in it.

Via: The Spaces