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Napa Valley Art, Architecture and Design Festa Veneziana a Catoga : The Imaginative World of a Venetian Artist in Napa Valley by Carlo Marchiori Paperback: 160 pages. 2002. In the serene Northern California town of Calistoga, a splendid villa is fronted by stately wrought-iron gates and a small sign reading "Carlo Marchiori, Maestro d'Arte." Ca'toga, as the Palladian-style villa is named, is the home and workshop of Carlo Marchiori, a world-renowned Venice-born artist. In FESTA VENEZIANA A CA'TOGA, Marchiori serves as tour guide, leading us room by room through this live portfolio, providing deeply personal and mysterious explanations for the wonders that abound in his gallery-like residence. Sixteenth century-style frescoes hang in the main salon, hand-painted stone floors accent the library, and antler and bone sculptures embellish the Native American room. Roman ruins, Thai temples, a seashell-encrusted grotto, and an open-air theater sit in archaic splendor on this dreamscape-turned-landscape. A spontaneous and creative expression of his life and work, Ca'toga is Marchiori's artistic utopia--a work in progress that is a brilliant spectacle to behold. About the Author Carlo Marchiori is internationally renowned for his large-scale murals hanging at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and the Tokyo Disney Resort. He lives and works in Calistoga, California.  California Wine Country : Interior Design, Architecture & Style by Diane Dorrans Saeks, Alan Weintraub (Photographer), Robert Mondavi Hardcover: 204 pages. 1997. True to the sense of bounty and calm that the California wine regions convey, Diane Dorrans Saeks writes, "Wine Country life is private, peaceful, undisturbed. Rural bliss soothes the mind. The Wine Country encourages simple wonder and gratitude." The inhabitants of the idyllic properties presented in California Wine Country must feel grateful indeed. This unbelievably seductive book of heavenly hideaways is divided into five sections: "Classic," "Poetic," "Rustic," "Collectors," and "Weekends." The Santa Ynez, Russian River, and Alexander Valley regions are explored, as well as the more well-known Napa and Sonoma areas. Saeks sought out creative people--artists and art dealers, designers, restaurateurs--whose houses range from a splendid Venetian villa near Calistoga to a 12-by-16-foot tent (furnished with antiques) on the edge of a peaceful Sonoma lake. The interiors are magazine-perfect (not a cell phone or fax machine in sight) and true to the prevailing architecture, whether angular and austere or funky adobe. There is a Mediterranean-inspired lusciousness in every photograph: grapes spill from the vines covering a patio, rambler roses cover a wooden gate, and doorways invariably open onto hillside vistas complete with blue sky. The directory at the book's end includes design and furnishings stores, as well as bookstores with good design sections, kitchen equipment stores, and restaurant, hotel, and winery recommendations. 30 homes and over 200 full-color photos. - Amazon.com
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