Renown Architect and Historic Restorer Filippo Giustiniani

Remembering Filippo Giustiniani, the man who taught us to see the beauty of Salento -

There are certain people who enter your life and, without realizing it at the time, quietly change its direction.

For us, one of those people was Filippo Giustiniani.

Filippo was an engineer, a preservationist, a visionary and the founder of Filippo Giustiniani & Partners, a practice based in Bassano del Grappa whose work has touched extraordinary historic buildings throughout Italy. His studio dedicated itself not simply to architecture, but to the much more delicate art of giving old buildings new life—restoring palazzi, villas, castles and centuries-old structures while respecting the stories already written into their walls.

Palazzo Dandolo

His projects included the restoration of Palazzo Odoardo at Castello di San Salvatore, the historic Dandolo Palace on Venice’s Grand Canal, Villa Rizzardi Pojega and numerous other important historic properties. His approach was always about preservation rather than reinvention: understanding what a building had been, discovering what remained hidden beneath generations of alteration, and finding a way for it to live beautifully in the present.

Perhaps that is why Filippo understood us—and what we were searching for—long before we completely understood it ourselves.

He had the remarkable ability to look beyond what was immediately visible.

Where someone else might see a sleepy town, an abandoned building, a faded façade or a forgotten corner of southern Italy, Filippo could see possibility.

And it was Filippo’s foresight, instinct and encouragement that helped lead us toward this corner of Puglia.

He saw something here.

Eventually, so did we.

Today, as we look at our life in Salento and at the home we have created here, it is difficult not to think about the chain of seemingly small moments that brought us to it. A conversation. A drive through a village. A building noticed from the street. A recommendation from a friend.

And, wonderfully, a gelato.

Because among the many gifts Filippo left us was one of the sweetest: he introduced us to Dolce Arte in Cutrofiano.

And the name could not be more perfect.

Dolce Arte, Cutrofiano

Dolce Arte. Sweet Art.

There is a lovely play on words there, particularly when remembering a man whose own life was devoted to art, architecture and preservation.

In the heart of Cutrofiano, Dolce Arte has been creating artisan gelato and pastries since 2004, when pastry chef Roberto Donno and his family set out to combine the traditional sweets of Salento with a more contemporary approach. The philosophy remains rooted in the territory: local ingredients, craftsmanship, quality and the flavors of this extraordinary part of southern Italy.

There is something wonderfully Salentino about the place.

Nothing needs to shout.

The artistry is in the ingredients, the texture, the seasonality, the ritual of going for a gelato on a warm summer evening and discovering that something seemingly very simple can be completely unforgettable.

That is the magic of Italy.

Art is not confined to museums.

It is in a fresco.

It is in a stone archway.

It is in the hand of an artisan restoring a centuries-old wall.

It is in a ceramic made a few towns away.

And sometimes, it is sitting in a little cup or cone in Cutrofiano.

Perhaps this is what Filippo understood better than most.

His professional life was devoted to protecting history while allowing it to continue living. Filippo Giustiniani & Partners describes its restoration philosophy as one of profound respect for the existing building, carefully studying its history and architectural constraints while finding ways for historic spaces to remain useful and relevant for future generations.

That philosophy feels very close to our own experience in Puglia.

We did not come here wanting to erase the past.

We came wanting to become part of it.

To find the artisans who still know how things are made.

To understand the architecture.

To preserve what should be preserved.

To add our own layer without removing all the layers that came before us.

And Filippo somehow knew this was where we belonged.

There is a bittersweetness in writing those words today because Filippo has since gone to heaven.

But certain people never really disappear from our lives.

They remain in the decisions we made because of them.

They remain in the places they introduced us to.

They remain in the way they taught us to look at something differently.

Every time we drive through this landscape, every time we discover another artisan, another palazzo, another extraordinary piece of Salento, there is a little bit of Filippo in the story.

And every time we go to Dolce Arte, we remember him.

What a beautifully simple legacy.

A man who spent his career preserving some of Italy’s great architecture also left behind, for us personally, a map to the place that would eventually become home—and directions to one of the best gelatos along the way.

Thomas & Filippo Touring More Properties for Purchase

On August 13, as family and friends gather for a Mass celebrating Filippo’s life, it seems the perfect moment to say thank you.

Thank you, Filippo, for your eye.

For your instinct.

For your extraordinary ability to recognize beauty not only for what it was, but for what it could become.

Thank you for believing that this corner of Puglia might somehow be right for us before we knew it ourselves.

And thank you for Dolce Arte.

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A post shared by Michou Mahtani (@michou.de.brickell)

 The Family Giustiniani

Because among all the grand palazzi, ancient stones and monumental restorations that marked your life, perhaps it is fitting that one of the memories we treasure most is something so wonderfully simple:

a friend leading us to a little gelateria in Cutrofiano and saying, essentially, “You have to try this.”

We did.

And just like Puglia itself, we fell in love.

Some legacies are carved in stone.

Others are a little sweeter.

In memory of Filippo Giustiniani.

August 13, 2026

Have a great week,

MICHOU