The name Dimidium comes from Latin and means “half”. Dimidium is located halfway between Reggio Emilia and Parma and halfway between the Po Valley and the Emilian Apennines. But how was it born?
The Lands of Matilda of Tuscany have a charm that bewitches anyone who discovers them for the first time. Among the woods and wheat fields, the silhouettes of churches and farmhouses, you can catch a glimpse of the Apennine peaks, the unmistakable Pietra di Bismantova (Stone of Bismantova), or the castles of the “Great Countess” Matilda, dominating these territories.
The Lands of Matilda mix a thousand-year history to the allure of the hills — the middle-Earth by definition.
The first time we passed through the hills of Selvapiana, we did it unwittingly, guided by Paolo’s sense of direction (and spirit of adventure). Coming down from Trinità, we immersed ourselves in the vibrant colors of summer in a landscape that looked like a painting.
“What a beautiful place, it must be wonderful to live here”
I said, losing myself while observing the gentle slopes of the hills. They reminded me, as often happens when I wander through the hills, of the landscapes of Monferrat, the home where I was born and raised.
Some unwavering reference points have become the coordinates to orient myself even in a place that is not home — or has not yet become home — the hay bales, the scent of freshly cut grass, the muffled noise of a tractor, the chickens by the roadside.
That day we were returning from visiting a house we thought we would buy — and it wasn’t the one in via Selvapiana 99. Nor was it the one we had seen at the beginning of the year on the slopes of Ventasso, when we had begun searching for a place that could host Dimidium. At the time, Dimidium did not have a name, it was just a project in our heads with a clear identity that has never changed but rather strengthened over time.
We didn’t buy that house, and when we were told it had found other buyers, it felt like the world would collapse under our feet. It was not easy for us to face the idea of starting the search for the ideal place for Dimidium all over again. We had very specific needs in mind and an increasingly urgent desire to leave the city and move to a more genuine place, closer to our ideal and the life we were planning.
When we first visited this house, something inside us told us it was the right one. The journey that led us from our first visit to becoming owners had been as troubled as beautiful. We were eager to start this new chapter and make this house ours, giving a home to a project we had planned thoroughly, down to the smallest detail.
One day Paolo joined me in the living room and said: “Dimidium. It means half. We’re halfway between the Apennines and the plains, equidistant from Reggio Emilia and Parma. What do you think?”
And just as when we adopted Artù and he found the right name for the new family member, this time too Dimidium felt like the right choice to me. As if it had always been there and we just had to discover it.
About eight months after we moved, work began and our house became a construction site: dust, doors always open, workers shouting to catch our attention, last-minute changes and unexpected issues became, in their own way, a constant to get used to. We began to see spaces change, taking new shapes. One wall was removed, another one was moved, one was built, a room that once was a single space was transformed to accommodate two bathrooms.
Our kitchen, the living room with my books and Paolo’s grappa corner, the green bedroom where we slept the first months as guests in our own house were all transformed, changing appearances, becoming three en-suite bedrooms, with new dimensions, new perimeters, new features.
This constant evolution, which reminds us of the evolution of nature that we witness every day, made us realise how much Dimidium also spoke of us. Dimidium speaks of the halfway point in our journey and the first true milestone reached by building something truly ours, with firm roots, which gives us the opportunity to share who we are, our journey, our dreams with people like us.
This is how Dimidium was born in a journey about home, childhood memories and adult dreams; in a winding path that sometimes we fully understood only after overcoming the most daunting stretches; in a revolution that gave us the chance to express who we are and to make a tangible impact through our actions.
We have many more stories to tell, we can share them over a cup of tea or a glass of wine, showing you the room you’ve chosen or at breakfast, watching a sunset or delighting in an unexpected snowfall.
We can’t wait to meet you!
See you soon,
Valentina