STUDIO DRAGÓ TRANSFORMS A TURN-OF-THE20TH-CENTURY MILANESE APARTMENT INTO A SLEEK PIED-À-TERRE FOR A STYLISH AMERICAN COUPLE WHO LOVE TO ENTERTAIN

STUDIO DRAGÓ TRANSFORMS A TURN-OF-THE- 20TH-CENTURY MILANESE APARTMENT INTO A SLEEK PIED-A-TERRE FOR A STYLISH AMERICAN COUPLE WHO LOVE TO ENTERTAIN

- LAURA MAY TODD

A common refrain about Milan is that its true beauty lies hidden behind closed doors-in manicured courtyards, art-filled private palazzi, and those marble-lined entryways for which the city is famous.

In crafting a pied-à-terre for two former Hollywood executives, designers Fanny Bauer Grung and David López Quincoces of Studio Dragó (formerly Quincoces-Dragó Partners) took that idea indoors, creating a versatile apartment that, as Bauer Grung puts it, lives a “double life.”

Before Italy, Adam Sanderson and Rich Ross’s story began in New York, where the couple met while both working in media. After 35 years and a relocation to Los Angeles, “we are squarely in the next chapter,” explains Sanderson, who fell in love with Italy after enrolling in an immersive language class in Bologna, which led to an extended stint in Milan. “It’s the post-corporate, post-full-time job part of our lives,” he adds. “That’s when the idea of having a second home became front and center for us.”

The pair wanted an address that was intimate yet cosmopolitan, and the Lombardy capital appealed to them for its urban pace and creative energy. When, after several years of searching, they eventually found their ideal retreat, a top-floor 1904 apartment just outside the historic center, they landed on a design studio that seemed equal parts capable and inspired.