How to Make an Italian Villa in Minecraft

Build wide. Italian villas are most commonly found in the countryside, and the more modern ones resemble mansions more often than not. Even when you're planning on making a small villa, build it in wider, open areas. Villas are also associated with lush, warmer environments and an abundance of greenery, so it's best to build it in the lush-type biomes like the Plains and its variations, or the Forest biome, but not the Swamp, Jungle, or Roofed Forest. In a pinch, the Savannah and Taiga biomes can work as well, though this will affect the color of Grass, Vines, Leaves, and Ferns.

Build along the land. While most modern Italian villas are more mansion-like and built on large, flat expanses, you don't have to do exactly that. Older villas, especially in the countryside, follow the lay of the land, and often slope up and down with the hills. This, in turn, would lead to some impressive-looking structures, so don't be afraid to follow the land or build with differing levels!

• Searching the Internet for some references wouldn't hurt, so feel free to look up and copy some of the layout designs you spot!
• Sloping builds don't have to exactly follow the land, or at least the interior doesn't. If you think that the slope is too erratic or the area it slopes with is too small, feel free to hollow out a part of the hill and take some creative liberties with your floor design.
• For those who wish a flatter main house but decided (or can't help but) to build the house on a slope, you can just create the flat floor, fill in some necessary space in the foundation, and simply install pillars around the areas that go past the foundation ground to emulate balconies, patios, gardens, and such. Not only will it save you some resources, it will also look pretty impressive!

Build the open walls. Italian villas have very large windows incorporated in their housing designs, giving them an open and sunny look. The easiest way to do this is to create a pillar segment, so to speak, at least 5 blocks long. You'll also need three types of wall material, four blocks of wood of your preference, and some two Glass Blocks for each segment, depending on how wide you want it.

• Here's the general guide to your materials:
  
  p = pillar block
  w = wall block
  c = ceiling block
  W = Wood
  g = Glass (Panes or Blocks)
  X = empty space
  (...) = repeat
• Place down the block you chose for your pillar material. Count three blocks away from it, then place another pillar block on the fourth. Then build up the pillars up to four blocks high in total.
  
  p X X X p
  p X X X p
  p X X X p
  p X X X p
• Place your main wall material between the top and bottom rows of the wall.
  
  p w w w p
  p X X X p
  p X X X p
  p w w w p
• Place two blocks of Wood on each side of the ensuing gap, and fill the middle with Glass Panes or Glass Blocks. Lastly, place the ceiling blocks on top!
  
  c c c c c
  p w w w p
  p W g W p
  p W g W p
  p w w w p
• If you want to extend the wall, simply treat the pillar block as a base, count three blocks, then place another pillar and build up another section!
  
  c c c c c c c c c
  p w w w p w w w p
  p W g W p W g W p
  p W g W p W g W p
  p w w w p w w w p
• You can even expand the wall segment to make the windows wider, if you want!
  
  c c c c c c c
  p w w w w w p
  p W g g g W p
  p W g g g W p
  p w w w w w p
• For corners, take your pillar blocks then create an L-shape where the walls meet, then build the rest of the walls along the pillars! This is so the building stays symmetrical inside and out, and preserves the pattern.
  
  Top:
  
  p p w w w p w w w (…)
  p
  w
  w
  w
  p
  w
  w
  w
  (…)
• Building the second floor is similar. Within the building, above the ceiling blocks, place another row of the same material. Then on that new layer, slowly place more of the same material blocks until it fills up the room to make a floor. Then simply repeat the steps for creating wall sections, and fill out the ceiling with more ceiling blocks!
  
  Side:
  c c c c c
  p w w w p
  p W g W p
  p W g W p
  p w w w p
  c c c c c
  c c c c c
  p w w w p
  p W g W p
  p W g W p
  p w w w p
  
  Top:
  p p w w w p w w w (…)
  p c c c c c c c c (…)
  w c c c c c c c c (…)
  w c c c c c c c c (…)
  w c c c c c c c c (…)
  p c c c c c c c c (…)
  w c c c c c c c c (…)
  w c c c c c c c c (…)
  w c c c c c c c c (…)
  (…)

Build arching pillars. Aside from the open design, Italian villas often have arching pillars incorporated in the design, especially for the patios, roofed balconies, and such. While tricky with such a blocky medium, it's doable with a pair of stairs and slabs. Take some blocks of your chosen material (you can use the same material as you built the walls with, stone or wood), and place them about 2–3 blocks apart to act as your pillar's support. Now, take any material you want for the arches, and simply place them on the sides of your arch's support block, with the steps of the stairs facing downwards. If you chose to place it 3 blocks apart, place a slab in between the two stairs. And there's your arch! You can use them for your entryway, the patio, or as walls to your garden!

a = arch block
s = stair
sl = slab
d = door

a s sl s a
a X X X a
a X X X a

or

a s s a
a X X a
a X X a

• To make an arch for a single door, follow the three-block-gap pattern then place the doors behind the arch, on the wall. There aren't many feasible ways to create a single door arch pattern you can emulate with the arch alone, since it leave strange gaps on the top or sides of the door.
• To make on double doors, use the two-block-gap pattern, then you can place the doors either between them or behind them. This works better than the one-gap arc patterns since there's ample room for the arc and the doors without sacrificing the pattern.

Build the sloping roofs. Normally, the roof of an Italian villa is a low, cheery red tile that slopes upwards, and sometimes flattening itself on the top. In Minecraft, this means that plain clay Bricks are your best bet for this.Take some Brick slabs, then place them along the top half of the outer portion of your walls, on top of the ceiling blocks. Then, on top of the outermost ceiling blocks themselves, place another set of slabs until it circles the entire wall.

(b) = brick slabs
b = brick Blocks

Top:
(b)(b)(b)(b)(…)
(b)(b)(b)(b)(…)
(b)(b) X X
(b)(b) X X
(b)(b) X X
(…)(…)

Side:
(b)(b)(b)(b)
(b)(b)(b)(b)
p w w w p
p W g W p
p W g W p
p w w w p

• Place Brick Blocks behind the slabs on top of the ceiling blocks, making sure to fill up the rest of the roof.
  
  Top:
  (b)(b)(b)(b)(…)
  (b)(b)(b)(b)(…)
  (b)(b) b b
  (b)(b) b b
  (b)(b) b b
  (…)(…)
  
  Side:
  b b b b
  (b)(b)(b)(b)
  (b)(b)(b)(b)
  p w w w p
  p W g W p
  p W g W p
  p w w w p
• Add slabs on top of the Brick Blocks, just after the first row of blocks.
  
  Top:
  (b)(b)(b)(b)(…)
  (b)(b)(b)(b)(…)
  (b)(b) b (b)
  (b)(b) b (b)
  (b)(b) b (b)
  (…)(…)
  
  Side: (b)(b)(b)(b)
  b b b b
  (b)(b)(b)(b)
  (b)(b)(b)(b)
  p w w w p
  p W g W p
  p W g W p
  p w w w p
• Keep repeating this pattern of alternating slabs and bricks until you fill out the rest of the rooftop or reach enough layers according to your preference. Ideally, the layers should be around 5–6 in a smaller house. This will lend your villa a gracefully sloping roof.
• If this seems to tedious to you, you can just use Stairs instead, then after the fourth layer of stairs, you simply place slabs or bricks to close off the roof.

Add vegetation. This might be the simplest step of this guide, seeing as all you have to do is add greenery to your villa.

• Place vines all over the sides of the walls. You don't need to place all the vines individually, since it naturally “creeps” down the walls after a while. Just place a couple on the highest part of your wall then wait for it to grow.
• Placing flowers and ferns on the ground along the walls can really improve the scenery as well.
• You can plant trees nearby, preferably the likes of Spruce and Birch. You can also make trees by placing a stack of Fence Posts about 2–3 blocks high, then placing some leaves around it to form a tree.
• Bushes can easily be made by placing a block of wood or wooden planks, then covering it with leaves. You can also place two Fence Posts about 1 block apart then place leaves in between to create a sort of neatly-cut topiary design.
• You can also place your plants in Flowerpots, both inside the villa and out! Flowerpots are crafted by placing 3 Bricks in a V-shape in your crafting table's grid. Once crafted, you can place nearly every type of "small" flora (like posies, dandelions, tulips, and mushrooms but not "big" ones like tall grass, ferns, rose bushes or sunflowers) in it, no matter what special conditions it has for planting. Do note that anything planted in a Flowerpot can't be bred or farmed!