Romantic natural sceneries, peaks, valleys, lakes and peaks in the background: if these are the treasures of the Friuli landscape on the border with Austria and Slovenia, where nature triumphs, the town of Malborghetto-Valbruna is one of its most appreciated and beautiful treasure chests.
A magical world for young and old
And here, the ideal setting for a dream of relaxation and to enjoy the pleasure of long walks in any season, stands Casa Oberrichter, a magical world for adults and children with its air of marzipan house, its refined warmth and care in furnishing details, from the warm ceramic stoves to the many wooden sculptures made by Silvano Nicolavcich and decorated by his wife Marina Gioitti.
They are the soul of Casa Oberrichter, which was the residence of the superior judge, Oberrichter, and dates back to the 1400s. The original floors are 600 years old: larch planks washed with water and blight and a rare example of mountain sowing. with the stones drowned in lime slaked on site for the main floor hall. One of the most difficult things was to recover the original materials: a challenge that was absolutely won in this house.
When they bought it, in fact, it was reduced to a ruin and it is hard to believe seeing it now finely restored and enriched by the objects that over time Marina and Silvano have collected in their antique shop in the heart of Tarvisio.
Then, years ago, they were seduced by the idea of finding them a home and brought them here to Malborghetto along with their very rich collection of wooden toys from the Sevi company, when it was still Italian and did not produce as it is today in China.
So, at the bar in front of a café, let’s find out more about this beautiful family of sportsmen and artists. Marina has been a swimming champion and her dry and athletic body reveals it even though she is now completely dedicated to her art and welcoming the guests of Casa Oberrichter. Together with Silvano, ski instructor and master carpenter, and his son Alessio, skilled chef and baroque baritone. The other son, Pietro, lives and works as a graphic designer in Milan, but here he comes back often because he is in Val Canale who finds his inspiration.
Besides the five suites, Casa Oberrichter also has a restaurant whose reins are firmly in the hands of Alessio, who in his menu offers traditional recipes such as goulash and stewed game, mushrooms and palačinke that we enjoyed as a first course in the savory version.
Who stops for the night like us, who slept in the squirrel room in which these cute little animals are reproduced everywhere among lamps, mirrors, wardrobes and even in the bathroom and kitchen area, the next morning has the opportunity to delight with the breakfast of toast stuffed with cheese, jams and home-made bread in the refined frescoed rooms and furnished with eighteenth-century furniture, tables and sideboards that host the endless collections, from the statues to the postcards to the mugs of beer.
Here everything has helped to build the ideal setting for the work that comes to life every day, a sort of theater where professional role and traces of an individual experience mix together that Marina, Silvano and Alessio reveal a little at a time to those who choose their home to live a real fairy tale in the woods.
And we too with our Otto we felt for a few days protagonists of this beautiful story in this house at the same time severe and charming, a real treasure discovered in the woods and pastures of Malborghetto now home of the Nicolavcich-Gioitti family and also open to their guests.
Casa Oberrichter
Via Superiore 4 – Malborghetto (Udine)
Info: +39 0428 41888 – 348 2713157 – casaoberrichter@gmail.com
