matteo thun's vigilius mountain resort rests amid the tyrolean forest

A collaboration between owner Ulrich Ladurner and Italian designer and architect Matteo Thun, the Vigilius Mountain Resort is a sustainable eco-retreat resting amid a larch forest in South Tyrol, Italy. The completed project is a member of The Aficionados — a travel resource comprising over 90 hotels, designer homes for private hire, and guesthouses across Europe, and an outpost in New York, with a selection of 100+ creatives who round out the service. The Aficionados also publishes four printed magazines: Blueprint Beauts, Farmhouse Fabulous, Casa Gorgeous, and Neu Heritage. The Aficionados was founded by Iain Ainsworth.

An ode to nature, the resort comprises wood and large expanses of glass, effortlessly binding the exterior and interior together to create a contemporary design elevated by natural comfort. As Matteo Thun puts it, the project is ‘a modern reinterpretation of local building traditions, using stone, wood, clay, and glass.’

image © Florian Andergassen

Blurred within San Vigilio’s mountaintop vista, the Vigilius Mountain Resort presents a design manifesto that is at one with nature, offering an intense landscape experience as the retreat follows the contours of the mountainside, rooting into the topography of South Tyrol. Matteo Thun (see more here) envisioned the architecture resting amidst the larch forest as if itself a fallen tree, cradled by woods and meadows.

This evocative touch to the overall design is bolstered by the architect’s use of materials: larch wood from the locale, silver quartzite, and natural clay. Meanwhile, the spa intelligently blurs distinctions between the inside and out — starting from the infinity pool with panoramic views of the Dolomites, which guides guests out into the open-air whirlpool, connected through a glass door guarded by a little wood of fragrant larch trees to the local herbs used in each of the healing spa treatments.

image © Patricia Parinejad

At Vigilius Mountain Resort, nothing is too overdone, and yet comfort, design, and style are all present in abundance. Larch wood-panelled bedrooms mirror their forested neighbors, and heated stone opens up to swathes of panoramic glass views overlooking meadows, a violet-darkening sky, and the Dolomites. Once settled in, guests wull get to snug amid raw clay walls where a clean, natural palette is splashed with sophisticated accents of burnt amber and tactile, cozy fabrics.

Owner Ulrich Ladurner has had a special connection with San Patricia Parinejalio and the Vigilius Mountain Resort plot since childhood. Tapping into the environment around him and wholly aware of the area’s incredible healing energy, he shifted his idea into reality with the help of architect Matteo Thun, offering future guests an escape into ‘an island up on a mountain,’ as described by Ladurner. Learn more about The Aficionados’ services by visiting the company website.

image © Florian Andergassen

image © Florian Andergassen

image © Patricia Parinejad