How I Curate My Space: Carla Sersale’s Exquisite Amalfi Coast Abode
In this interiors series, we ask designers and tastemakers to open the doors of their most-loved room, sharing the stories and inspirations behind its style – and their favorite pieces within it. Here, CARLA SERSALE, hotelier and founder of fashion and homeware brand Emporio Sirenuse, welcomes us into her Positano living room, where a world-famous view inspires her creativity. By KATIE BERRINGTON
“My home is a haven from my hectic life,” says Carla Sersale of the “relatively old” Positano house (“Built in the early 20th century, or maybe before”) that she shares with her husband, Antonio, owner of the nearby Amalfi Coast stalwart Le Sirenuse. The couple’s house, more modest in size but equally as charming as the legendary hotel, keeps to the traditional local style, with dome-like cupolas on its flat roof terrace that form the vaults of the rooms’ ceilings beneath. “Cupolas and vaults derive from Byzantine architecture and are prominent in Positano and the entire south of Italy,” Sersale explains.
The couple lives here for seven months of the year, during the time that the hotel is open. The living room is Sersale’s favorite space in the house, and opens towards an intimate garden that has a spectacular view across the bay of Positano and the village’s instantly recognizable pyramid of houses. “The proportions of the living room are especially sweet, being square with the vaulted ceiling,” she says. “There is something very peaceful about living in a symmetrical space with high ceilings.”
They used to live in a much larger house in the village, where they raised their children. “But, once our nest was emptied, we opted for this little place, because it was full of charm and very near the hotel,” shares Sersale. “The garden is a jewel, with a large palo borracho tree towering in the middle of it. It is surrounded by roses, a large lemon tree and lots of green. We remained here for the entire duration of the 2020 four-month lockdown, and watched the palo borracho’s leaves grow. A couple of morning doves made their nest on the tree and kept us company with their whoo whoo sound every morning. Despite all the anxiety and all the difficulties, it was a romantic time – so I have sweet memories of that first brutal lockdown.”
Indoors, the style is eclectic, “like all the houses my husband and I have made in our lifetime and loved,” the designer says. “It is a mix of old and new – eastern and western influences together… We collect art and objects and our houses tend to become very busy.” Pieces they have commissioned are included in the displays: “Some of Luke Edward Hall's plates, designed for Emporio Sirenuse, are scattered around on our tables.”
Sersale and her husband have a shared obsession with symmetry. Two identical glass doors lead from the living area onto a balcony that looks out over the garden. In between the doors are wooden libraries, holding “lots of books – travel books and novels, as well as large art books”. There is a white marble fireplace, a large teak coffee table and a wrought-iron table, with a painted glass top designed by a local artist. The floor is a configuration of handmade honey-colored terracotta tiles, which contrast with the whitewashed domed ceilings.
Colors are the greatest influence in Sersale’s creativity, she says, and are mostly derived from the natural hues that surround the house. “Both our fashion collections and our home-decor design are inspired by the warm, golden light of Positano, where the deep blue of the sea and the cyan/turquoise of the sky turn to pink, orange and fuchsia at the end of the day. Our Aria glass collection, hand-blown in Murano, Venice, is entirely inspired by the luminous colors of Positano’s air.”
“It is a mix of old and new – eastern and western influences together… We collect art and objects and our houses tend to become very busy
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My four favorite elements
The Luke Edward Hall charger plate
“Luke’s design of a face with a lemon vase on its head has tremendous significance for me. It certainly relates to the Amalfi Coast, where lemons have been farmed on terraces since time immemorial. But the way he painted the face reminds me of Ancient Greek sculptures, and it directly relates to the history of our land.”
Giuseppe Ducrot vases
“Giuseppe Ducrot is a Roman artist and a friend. We commissioned him to make the monumental ceramic fountain that became iconic at our Franco’s Bar in the hotel. Just like the fountain, these vases are also made in yellow ceramic. Their incredible color is rendered more profound by a band of dark purple underneath. The style is contemporary baroque.”
Books, books, books
“Books are everywhere, and we love reading them, as well as decorating our houses with them. They give warmth to a house and welcome us home when we return, with stories that mean something to us.”
The view from our garden
“Sitting on the far-end bench of our garden puts you in the best position to admire the village of Positano, the majestic dome of the church with its yellow and green 16th-century tiles, the deep-blue sea and the islands of Li Galli in the middle of it. Nothing is more magical than this.”