Le Cementine · Cement-tile suite · Puglia · Trulli d'Amore
Le Cementine:
quiet,
intimate.
The Apulian cement tiles that give the suite its name are the originals from the master house, laid here in monochrome. The other half of the design is in L'Alcova — we separated them but wanted them to keep speaking to each other.
A cement-tile suite in our Puglia trullo, with the original handcrafted floor of the trullo. A bedroom where each tile carries a century of history. En-suite bathroom, window onto the limestone, and the Puglian design that you notice the moment you walk in.
The name
Le Cementine: the cement-tile suite at our Puglia trullo
The "cementine" are decorated cement tiles that adorned the floors of Apulian homes between the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were the signature of a house: every family chose its own design, and the floor lasted for generations.
In the former master bedroom of Trulli d'Amore — now L'Alcova — there were two different designs, laid in the "pasta and chickpeas" technique: an old method where tiles are mixed, alternated in an apparently random pattern. A typical choice in rural Puglia.
When we restored the house, we separated the two designs. The monochrome ones are here, in this suite — and they give the room its name. The other design is on the other side of the house. The floors of these two rooms are, in fact, the same floor — just divided in two.
It's a detail guests only notice if we tell them. But from that moment, every step in the suite has an added sound.
The space
Compact, intimate,
isolated.
A 160x200 double bed against the latticed wooden headboard. The room is the most compact of the four — not large, but with its own quiet intimacy. You walk in, close the door, and you are truly alone.
The view is over the garden, through a tall window with red shutters. Evening light in particular enters at an angle and ignites the cement tiles on the floor — it is the most beautiful moment of the room.
The en-suite bathroom has a story. It used to be a blind room — a small internal space, with no natural light. To avoid giving it up, we opened a hatch in the ceiling, operable electronically. When you open it, above you is the sky — stars in the evening, sun in the morning. It is a contemporary solution that preserves the old shell while making it liveable.
The walk-in shower has a wall of Apulian cement tiles — a modern echo of the original floor tiles. The fittings are black. The basin is white ceramic, on a terracotta-coloured resin counter that picks up the tones of the earth.
In numbers
The room in detail.
160 × 200
+ ceiling skylight
+ baby cot available
air conditioning
Who it's for
For the couple
who wants true quiet.
Le Cementine is the room chosen by couples who really want to retreat. It is the most compact, the most separate from the others, the quietest. It is also the most requested by returning guests — those who, on the first visit, had L'Alcova or Il Granaio, and on the return are looking for something smaller and more intimate.
It works very well for those travelling as a couple, with no need for extra space. For those who, on waking, want first the garden outside the window, then everything else. For those who, returning at night, just want to close a door and disappear.
Starting rate is lower than the others — not because it is "less" than the others, but because it is smaller. A conscious choice, not a compromise.
The other suites