Telling the Story of a Remarkable Place.
Villa Saletta
Villa Saletta is an ancient estate in the heart of Tuscany. The former country residence of the Medici’s financier, Villa Saletta has been a place of luxury and idyllic rural leisure for almost 1000 years.
After decades of decline the estate was purchased by the Hands family, who began the painstaking process of restoring all 1760 acres to their former glory – the first step of which was to reinstate a tradition of viticulture and winemaking.
Today Villa Saletta produces some of the finest chiantis in the region, and the portions of the estate that have been restored are available as luxury holiday villas, nestled in amongst the vine terraces, olive groves and rolling chamomile meadows.
We were asked to redesign and build the Villa Saletta site as a storytelling platform, exploring the history of the estate, it’s produce and experiences, and the philosophies driving it’s restoration.
The design married beautiful imagery of the estate to transport users, with subtle animations taken from illustrations in the estate’s historical records. The content was driven by a strategic architecture we developed with the client team, that cemented the philosophy, values and tonality of the Villa Saletta brand.
The build placed an emphasis on immersion, using simple parallaxing to take users deeper into the content, and create a smooth, almost dream-like browsing experience. Simple functionality, such as downloadable tasting notes for the various vintages, or email enquiry for potential guests, gave the site practical applications alongside the overall storytelling objective.
The site now acts as a window into the estate for guests, wine buyers and investors – a first step on the journey for this extraordinary place.
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