As you wander by means of the grounds of Casa Bonavita, a brand new 17-bedroom lodge in Malta, it’s straightforward to neglect you might be in a lodge in any respect. With its golden limestone partitions, palm-fringed pool and gardens scented with jasmine and orange blossom, it feels extra like the house of a very lucky pal. That, its homeowners Christopher and Suzanne Sharp clarify, is completely the purpose.
The founders and former homeowners of The Rug Firm stumbled throughout the dilapidated 18th-century home in 2010 and have been immediately bewitched. Over the following 15 years, they steadily introduced it again to life, first as their household dwelling and later as a lodge, which opened in late spring 2026.
The lodge occupies a restored nineteenth century home in Attard that initially served because the countryside property for the distinguished Bonavita household
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
Casa Bonavita is positioned within the sleepy village of Attard, one in every of Malta’s historic Three Villages and round 20 minutes from the capital, Valletta. 5 minutes’ stroll away is Villa Bologna Pottery, the famend ceramics studio, store and restaurant owned by the Sharps’ daughter, Sophie Edwards. However Casa Bonavita makes retreating behind its backyard partitions particularly tempting.
All through the home, authentic architectural particulars have been rigorously restored, preserving the character of the Bonavita household’s former nation property
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
Nearly each bed room has its personal personal outside house, but even within the gardens or beside one of many lodge’s two swimming pools, it’s doable to get pleasure from full solitude.
The terrace-wrapped restaurant centres on an open, Sicilian tile-clad kitchen with a Lacanche vary, additional blurring the excellence between lodge and residential. Open to friends all through the day, it welcomes exterior diners within the night, serving Mediterranean dishes together with pan-roasted sea bass, verdura mista and buffalo mozzarella.
A working communal kitchen with a Lacanche vary and Sicilian tiles sits on the centre of the home, the place friends can get pleasure from pastries within the morning and tea and cake within the afternoon.
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
Whereas Christopher revived the gardens, the interiors are the work of Suzanne’s London-based follow, Suzanne Sharp Studio. Drawing on her southern Mediterranean heritage – she grew upin Malta – she has created welcoming areas that seem to have developed over generations. Vintage furnishings, Murano glass lighting, textiles and artwork are layered with hand-painted murals that sweep throughout partitions and ceilings, most notably within the restaurant the place Alfonso Orombelli and Luna Aulehla Greppi have created a leafy scene that brings the lodge’s backyard foliage inside. The bar is wrapped in a bespoke de Gournay wallpaper depicting Seventeenth-century Valletta, whereas artists from the close by pottery studio hand painted the lampshades. Each floor has been thought of.
A subterranean spa encompasses a hammam, sauna, chilly plunge and health club, its blousy floral materials and deep-green zellige tiles creating a wonderful assembly of English and Moorish sample.
Artists Alfonso Orombelli and Luna Aulehla Greppi created the hand-painted backyard mural that envelopes the restaurant’s partitions and ceiling
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
The most effective bed room is hotly disputed amongst employees and friends, however Wallpaper* believes that Room 5 – the one suite in the principle home – simply takes the crown, due to its beneficiant proportions, its rest room, set inside the home’s former chapel, and personal terrace overlooking the gardens.
The bar is wrapped in a bespoke de Gournay wallpaper depicting Seventeenth-century Valletta
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
Right here, Wallpaper* speaks to Christopher and Suzanne Sharp about reminiscences of Malta, designing by means of intuition, and eventually realising a lifelong dream.
The house that grew to become a lodge
Suzanne and Christopher Sharp lived in Casa Bonavita with their household earlier than embarking on its six-year transformation right into a boutique lodge
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
Wallpaper*: You’ve each mentioned that opening a lodge had been a lifelong dream. The place did that dream start?
Christopher Sharp: After we have been in our mid-twenties, Suzanne and I dreamt of opening a small lodge in Tuscany. Wanting again, had we by some means managed to drag it off, it might nearly actually have been an unmitigated catastrophe. We had neither the monetary assets nor the expertise to make such an formidable enterprise succeed. Having now opened Casa Bonavita, we recognize simply how a lot data, resilience and persistence it calls for. Fairly merely, we weren’t prepared. Even so, that early dream by no means actually disappeared. It grew to become a type of quiet ambitions that stays with you, surfacing each few years to remind you that there’s something nonetheless left to do.
By way of a sequence of arches, the restaurant opens onto a flagstone courtyard the place friends can dine amongst orange timber
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
Casa Bonavita was by no means conceived as a industrial train; it was the chance to fulfil a dream.
Christopher Sharp
Every of Casa Bonavita’s 17 bedrooms has its personal distinguishing options, with most opening onto a personal terrace or backyard
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
Over the course of our lives, we’ve had a number of completely different careers, and we regularly joke that our philosophy is to do every part as soon as – and go away whereas we’re nonetheless having fun with it. After we discovered this home, every part appeared to align. We lastly had the proper property, the expertise that had been lacking all these years earlier than, and the assets to grasp the imaginative and prescient correctly.
Extra importantly, we had reached a stage in our lives the place we understood what sort of lodge we needed to create. Casa Bonavita was by no means conceived as a industrial train; it was the chance to fulfil a dream. Generally the perfect concepts merely want time earlier than they’re able to be realised.
W*: Earlier than it grew to become a lodge, Casa Bonavita was your loved ones dwelling. How did dwelling right here affect the selections you made as you reworked it into a spot for friends?
CS: Residing in Casa Bonavita earlier than it grew to become a lodge gave us an understanding of the home that will have been unimaginable to amass from architectural plans alone. It allowed us to expertise its rhythms and subtleties by means of each season: how the sunshine strikes by means of the rooms at completely different instances of day, how the solar travels throughout the backyard, and the way the character of every house adjustments all year long.
Hand painted frescoes and ornamental murals adorn partitions and ceilings all through the lodge
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
We needed it to really feel like a much-loved dwelling the place every part has discovered its place over time.
Suzanne Sharp
The entire lodge’s artwork and furnishings was painstakingly sourced by Suzanne’s inside design studio alongside her son, the antiques seller Jamie Sharp
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
It additionally taught us the sensible realities of dwelling in a historic Maltese home. Though Malta enjoys plentiful winter sunshine, the humidity means good heating is important for consolation. Within the peak of summer time, efficient air-con is equally essential, however we additionally got here to understand the worth of ceiling followers. There are various evenings when a delicate motion of air is way extra nice than the fixed chill of air-con.
Maybe most significantly, dwelling right here allowed us to know how the home truly features as a house. Spending time in each room revealed what every house wanted to make it each sensible and cozy, whereas dwelling within the village gave us the chance to get to know our neighbours and grow to be a part of the local people. We hope that sense of belonging and authenticity is one thing our friends expertise too. The home was designed not merely to look stunning, however to really feel pure to reside in, and we consider that has made all of the distinction.
‘We needed each room to really feel as if it had developed over generations, reasonably than been designed ,’ says Suzanne Sharp
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
Suzanne, you grew up in Malta. What’s the Malta of your childhood that you simply bear in mind, and in what methods did these reminiscences discover their approach into the lodge?
Suzanne Sharp: My inspiration has at all times come from reminiscence reasonably than a selected design type. I grew up in Malta when life was slower and homes have been lived in reasonably than styled. I bear in mind the cool stone flooring, excessive ceiling rooms with shutters closed towards the afternoon solar, household homes full of objects and furnishings collected over generations, and gardens that appeared overgrown. There was an ease to the way in which we lived and entertained that has stayed with me.
Casa Bonavita was by no means supposed to recreate my childhood, however to seize that feeling. We needed it to really feel like a much-loved dwelling the place every part has discovered its place over time. If friends go away with a way of the Malta we bear in mind – its heat, generosity and quiet magnificence – then we’ve achieved what we hoped.
Designing the interiors
‘There was an ease to the way in which we lived and entertained that has stayed with me,’ says Suzanne Sharp of her childhood in Malta
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
W*: The wall and ceiling murals are one of many lodge’s most distinctive options. How did the thought first emerge?
SS: As we restored the home, we uncovered traces of its previous that reminded us how color in Maltese homes was used. That grew to become the start line for the murals. We didn’t need to recreate something traditionally, however reasonably proceed the story of the constructing in a approach that felt pure.
W*: How carefully did you direct the artists, or have been they given room to interpret the areas themselves?
SS: I had a really clear imaginative and prescient for every room and labored carefully with the artists, discussing colors and ambiance, however I additionally needed their very own creativity to shine by means of. It was a real collaboration. Every mural was designed particularly for its house, so no two rooms really feel the identical, but collectively they create a story that runs all through the home.
Mushy colors, handcrafted furnishings and a spotlight to element lend the bedrooms the texture of a personal dwelling
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
I hope folks discover one thing completely different every time they wander by means of the home – that sense of discovery is a part of the expertise.
Suzanne Sharp
Room 5’s spectacular rest room is housed throughout the property’s former chapel, topped by a domed ceiling
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
W*: You labored along with your son, the antiques seller Jamie Sharp, to supply lots of the vintage and classic items. Are there explicit intervals, kinds or objects that you simply’re instinctively drawn to?
SS: I’ve by no means collected in response to interval or vogue. I’m drawn to items with character, craftsmanship and a way that they’ve already lived a life. Christopher and I, along with our son, spent years looking for objects that merely felt proper for the home. Some got here from vintage markets, some from sellers, and others have been with our household for years.
‘I’m drawn to items with character, craftsmanship and a way that they’ve already lived a life,’ says Suzanne Sharp
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
W*: What do these older items carry to a lodge that up to date furnishings maybe can’t?
SS: Older items carry a heat and authenticity that may be very tough to fabricate. They carry imperfections, tales and a way of scale making a room really feel as if it has developed naturally reasonably than been put in .
W*: Are there any notably particular items that friends ought to look out for?
SS: Reasonably than highlighting one or two star items, I’d a lot reasonably friends uncover issues for themselves. There are work, sculptures, ceramics and small objects tucked away all through the lodge that reward a re-assessment. I hope folks discover one thing completely different every time they wander by means of the home – that sense of discovery is a part of the expertise.
Rediscovering the gardens
‘We needed to create a sequence of areas – a way of journey and discovery – the place every flip provided one thing new,’ explains Christopher Sharp.
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
W*: The gardens really feel splendidly established, nearly as if they’ve at all times been this fashion. What did you inherit while you first purchased the property, and what has the method of shaping and restoring them concerned?
CS: After we first purchased the home, the backyard felt reasonably forlorn. Its underlying construction was nonetheless there, but it surely had obtained little greater than fundamental upkeep for a few years. There have been a number of citrus timber, although they have been in poor situation, and the planting lacked each coherence and ambition.
The backyard revealed itself reasonably than unfolding steadily as you moved by means of it. We needed to create a sequence of areas – a way of journey and discovery – the place every flip provided one thing new. As a result of the home was changing into a lodge, it was equally essential to create locations the place friends may discover privateness, in addition to areas that naturally inspired folks to collect.
Friends step by means of the lodge’s entrance right into a courtyard that results in the lodge foyer within the former secure block
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
The dimensions additionally wanted rebalancing. There have been too few mature timber to provide the backyard the sense of enclosure and permanence we have been searching for. We planted twelve full-sized palms, along with all kinds of smaller timber and shrubs, to revive each proportion and depth. If something, I most popular to overplant. It’s at all times simpler to take away a tree or skinny out a border than to attend a long time for a backyard to mature.
The lodge options two swimming swimming pools and a subterranean spa
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
W*: Had been sound and perfume essential to the expertise you needed to create?
CS: Sure, the scent and the sounds of the backyard are enormously essential. Though we’re within the coronary heart of a village, there’s a exceptional sense of tranquillity. One of many pleasures of the backyard is that it means that you can neglect the place you might be. Past the partitions there’s village life, however inside them there’s a feeling of calm and enclosure.
Sound is a big a part of that have. The mild motion of water has an nearly timeless high quality; the wind passing by means of the crowns of the palms, the refrain of crickets on a scorching summer time afternoon, and the birds at first mild all grow to be a part of the rhythm of the day. None of those sounds calls for your consideration, but collectively they create an environment that’s deeply restorative. Scent is simply as evocative. The perfume of jasmine within the night, lantana warmed by the solar, citrus blossom in spring and herbs releasing their oils within the warmth all anchor you within the Mediterranean.
Casa Bonavita’s Kitchen is led by Government Chef Dex Oseman
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
Scent has a rare capacity to evoke reminiscence…I needed the backyard to be remembered as a lot by means of its perfume as by means of its look.
Christopher Sharp
The menu is impressed by Malta’s sea, gardens, and the beneficiant spirit of Mediterranean dwelling cooking
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
Maybe most significantly, I needed the backyard to really feel alive. I like the concept there’s a complete world of bugs, birds and small creatures carrying on their very own lives, fairly oblivious to our presence. A backyard ought to by no means really feel like a stage set; it ought to really feel like an ecosystem. If we’ve got executed our job nicely, friends are merely passing by means of a panorama that has its personal life and rhythm, reasonably than one which exists solely for his or her enjoyment.
‘I hope folks discover one thing completely different every time they wander by means of the home – that sense of discovery is a part of the expertise,’ displays Suzanne
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
(Picture credit score: Julian Vassallo)
(Picture credit score: de Gournay)
(Picture credit score: Boz Gagovski)
