O R T I G I A , S I C I L Y , I T A L Y R e j e c t i n g s h o w r o o m s h e e n , a d e s i g n - s a v v y d u o t u r n s w e a r a n d t e a r i n t o a m a s t e r c l a s s i n s o u l laking paint, splintered wood. Rust, erosion, water damage. To some, these read as nothing but signs of ruin and waste, intimations of mortality, a shadow over sunny days. To others, a delight in the manifestations of time passing is not morbid, but marvelous. Earth, poet George Meredith penned in his ode to autumn, “smells regeneration/In the moist breath of decay.” In 2022, after years of working in fashion and the recent opening of their modern antiques gallery and interior design business, 7887 Gallery Studio, in Reggio Emilia, Raffaele Corsaro and Gabriella Cataldi treated themselves to a Sicilian escape in search of inspiration. Vacationing on Ortigia – the island that forms the historical center of Syracuse in Sicily – they wandered from the tourist-filled streets near the waterfront to explore quieter byways, where they came across a crumbling, 17th-century palazzo. When they returned to house hunt a few months later, they visited 25 properties; little did they know the last one they’d be shown would be the time- worn pile they had encountered earlier. P A T I N A M A K E S P E R F E C T