Manila After Dark: Italy State of Mind

IN THREE years of staying in Manila, Francesco Tornieri has learned to make the most out of his home away from home.

He is from Venice, the Italian city famous for its canals, and he looks up to the 13^th century Italian explorer, Marco Polo, as the inspiration for the fusion of Old World charms and east Asian sensibility in his place.

Francesco’s friend and design consultant, Migs Rosales, helped fix up his place. Migs says Francesco prefers white, which was the predominant color of his place’s walls and ceiling, and the color helps bring contrast to hanging artwork and antique furnitures.

Though his work for an international banking institution based in Manila demands most of his time, that hardly dampened Francesco’s passion for traveling. His spectacular view of the city, with the towering south Luzon mountain ranges in the backdrop, is the perfect backdrop reflecting his wanderlust.

He has traveled widely all over Asia, Africa, and South America, and every time he goes back home in his plush condo unit at the heart of Makati City, he brings bits and pieces of cultural relics with him.

At the foyer, visitors are welcomed by a tabernacle which was used as a depository for the Holy Host. He found the gilded box in Cuzco, Peru.Hanging on the wall beside the tabernacle is a 16^th century reproduction of a Renaissance Italian painting.

“I grew steeped in Catholic tradition so these religious objects remind me of home,” says Francesco.

Also hanging on the wall near the foyer is a painting which was picked out for him by a friend at the Louvre. “It’s one of my favorite artwork.”

At an alcove in his living room, Francesco placed an antique altar table from Bohol where he put on top his favorite travel book on a reading stand and an Italian terra cotta bust.

Across the alcove, past the comfortable white sofa on the living room, is an antique prayer pedestal from Venice, with a dated spyglass sitting on top.
For his dinner table, Francesco got a well worn antique table and benches from Cebu. Francesco says, "It reminds me of Franciscan monasteries in Tuscany and the bench allows a more communal experience to dining."

At the end of the table is another cabinet, with three silver candelabras, a metal fruit bowl from Indonesia and an antique picture frame. But what Francesco is particularly proud of, which he venerates with a flower in a large vase, is a tanka from Tibet with a depicted dual image of the Buddha.

“It’s the best I can do to pay respect to it in this spot.”

On the way to the powder room stands what’s probably the oldest piece of furniture in his place, a dark small cabinet with rare old bound books on top.

Francesco’s love for Filipino antiques is also reflected in his bedroom where a riveted silver-plated carving hangs above his headboard. The guestroom has another carving, a Tampinco woodwork, also hanging above the headboard.