In a world where interiors are often reduced to sleek surfaces and fleeting trends, Studio Peregalli Sartori stands apart. Founded in Milan by Laura Sartori Rimini and Roberto Peregalli, the studio has become synonymous with rooms that feel timeless — layered, atmospheric, and charged with memory. Their work is not simply decoration but storytelling, where history is the protagonist and beauty is the language.
Origins of a Partnership
The roots of Studio Peregalli Sartori lie in the legendary Italian decorator Renzo Mongiardino, whose theatrical, erudite interiors redefined postwar design. Both Sartori Rimini and Peregalli were protégés of Mongiardino, absorbing his reverence for history, his painterly eye, and his insistence that interiors must speak to the soul as much as to the eye. When Mongiardino died in 1998, the pair carried his vision forward, founding the studio and extending his legacy into the twenty-first century.
A Philosophy of Atmosphere
At the heart of their practice is a belief that interiors are never static: they are palimpsests of lives lived, eras remembered, and stories retold. Walls may be frescoed or fabric-covered, ceilings coffered or hand-painted, floors inlaid with geometric stone. But these details are never gratuitous. Each choice emerges from deep research — into the architecture, the client’s heritage, the local craft traditions. The result is a space that feels at once meticulously designed and mysteriously inevitable, as though it has always been there.
Projects of Distinction
Studio Peregalli Sartori’s portfolio is as diverse as it is distinguished. Palazzos in Milan and Rome, apartments in Paris and New York, houses on the French Riviera and in the English countryside — each is transformed not into a sterile showpiece but into a resonant stage for life. In a Manhattan apartment, they conjured a Renaissance studiolo with wood-paneled intimacy. In a villa on Lake Como, they layered painted boiserie with antique mirrors and textiles to capture the light of the lake. Every project is a dialogue between place, history, and imagination.
The Art of Craft
Sartori Rimini and Peregalli work with an extraordinary network of artisans — painters, plasterers, cabinetmakers, textile weavers — to realize their vision. Much of their work is bespoke: trompe l’oeil murals, hand-loomed fabrics, mosaic floors laid by master craftsmen. This dedication to artisanal detail not only elevates their interiors but also preserves traditions in danger of vanishing in the age of industrial production.
Publishing a Vision
Their philosophy has been articulated in two essential volumes: The Invention of the Past (2011) and Grand Tour (2018), both richly illustrated with their projects. These books reveal how Studio Peregalli Sartori approaches design not as invention ex nihilo but as the creative reinterpretation of memory. As the titles suggest, theirs is a constant dialogue with history — but one that refuses nostalgia.
Selected Projects
- Milanese Palazzo – A residence that layers Renaissance frescoes, silk-lined walls, and contemporary pieces, creating a dialogue between antiquity and modern life.
- Paris Apartment – A Left Bank retreat where mirrored boiserie, eighteenth-century paneling, and antique textiles come together in a quietly sumptuous harmony.
- Lake Como Villa – A jewel on the water’s edge, blending hand-painted woodwork with antique mirrors to amplify the shimmer of the lake and mountains beyond.
- New York Apartment – A modern studiolo that evokes Renaissance scholarship, its paneled walls and cabinets designed to house rare books and objets d’art.
A Legacy in the Making
In an era dominated by minimalism and instant gratification, Studio Peregalli Sartori offers something richer: interiors that unfold like novels, full of detail, surprise, and depth. Their work demonstrates that history can be not a burden but a source of freedom, allowing design to transcend trend and approach timelessness.
Closing Reflection
Studio Peregalli Sartori reminds us that the most powerful interiors are not the newest, but the ones that feel eternal. To enter one of their rooms is to step into a story — a space that has absorbed centuries of memory yet speaks fluently to the present. In their hands, decoration becomes narrative, craft becomes culture, and design becomes poetry.
Discover more at: http://www.studioperegalli.com
My World of Interiors 