casa nereta: surrealist's home becomes petit hotel over cadaqués

AN ARTIST’S HOTEL OVER CADAQUÉS

Stretching along Catalonia‘s northeastern shore is Costa Brava, the wild coastline of rocky coves and scenic fishing villages. Here can be discovered the seaside town of Cadaqués, hidden behind the dramatic landscape sloping down to the Mediterranean Sea. From a distance, the place appears as a cluster of white stones climbing the hilly coast, lit by the shimmering blue marina below. It’s a town that’s made up almost entirely of whitewashed fishermen’s cottages, united by their deep blue shutters and terracotta rooftops. The town is said to date back over a thousand years. Its age can be read through its stone streets — narrow, winding, steep, and now draped in Bougainvillea, the tropical flowering vines which blossom with a shock of purple and pink. By the 20th century Cadaqués became a haven for artists — here is where Dalí spent his summers — and its traditional architecture became subtly infused with modernist influences.

Overlooking the heart of the village below is the petit hotel Casa Nereta — a design-minded space which evokes more the feeling of a home. It is among the latest of the seaside town’s modern interventions, and has taken shape with a renovation to compliment the atmosphere and heritage of Cadaqués.

images © Kate Berry (unless otherwise stated)

the layered history of casa nereta

While the building itself is an historic fixture of the medieval streets of Cadaqués, the hotel Casa Nereta has a storied journey embedded in the heritage of the town. It began in the 1950s as the home and studio of the avant-garde Catalan painter Joan Ponç. The house, originally built with a unique blend of Mediterranean and English styles, witnessed Ponç’s creative process. It hosted artistic giants like Duchamp, Man Ray, and Salvador Dalí, — an artist with which Ponç had a tumultuous friendship. It wasn’t until 1992 that Ponç’s son Joan and daughter-in-law Romy, an artist herself, envisioned a new chapter for the house, hoping to transform it into a boutique hotel.

Casa Nereta officially opened in 2016, as Romy worked together with Barcelona-based interiors firm Conti, Cert Studio to curate a renovation which embraced the building’s artistic legacy while integrating contemporary comforts. The team took inspiration from the evocative organic forms of Rudolf Steiner’s 1928-built Goetheanum in Switzerland. Thus, the interiors are shaped with soft curves and natural materials. Overall, the hotel includes thirteen rooms and a newly completed penthouse, which opens onto a sunny terrace.

Casa Nereta overlooks the coastal Catalan village of Cadaqués | image © Salva Lopez

curated interiors for a wellness retreat

Now Casa Nereta is managed by Romy’s son James, who ensures that it is an experiential stay for its design-minded guests in Cadaqués. In the end, it is a retreat. Quiet and calming during the day, it is removed from (yet still accessible to) the buzzing streets and beaches below. The hotel’s communal areas on the ground floor serve as a gallery space, bistro, and boutique, with curated design objects and furniture. A shelf of art and photography books honors the place’s heritage with the works of Ponç and Dalí. This space is filled with the fragrance of selected skincare products — the team hosts wellness-centric workshops for testing the aromatic botanical creams and oils. Other items can be discovered for sale, including locally handcrafted baskets, clothing, and ceramics.

Meanwhile, an in-house restaurant, Bistró Nereta, serves signature Mediterranean-Peruvian fusion cuisine and hosts a rotating chef’s residency. More experiences include outdoor yoga flows on a newly completed yoga deck, aromatherapeutic massages, holistic facials, and natural wine tastings. On select evenings, the garden courtyard opens for DJ sessions which transform the tranquil retreat into a bumping house party. Co-founder, manager, and artist James Pons tells designboom that the place takes its name from the swallows — nereta or oreneta in Catalan — which arrive in Cadaqués to mark the changing of the season, and are regarded as a sign of good things to come, a fitting namesake for a space that embodies the spirit of renewal and optimism.

the hotel offers wellness workshops, yoga sessions, and an in-house bistro hosting chef residences