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Leonardo da Vinci once slept in the former monastery where sister and brother Valeria and Alberto bought an apartment together seven years ago, on a beautiful, sleepy square in Florence, Italy...

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They hired an architect to help them maximize their soaring ceilings, installing climbing vertical bookcases in the study and modernizing the stairs to the upstairs loft. The flat is equipped with two large, extremely long bathrooms, one on top of the other over two floors, so each sibling has ample private space. They installed Japanese sliding doors to the bedrooms, and they use what's left of their generous wall space to host visiting at-home art exhibitions -- a painter friend lent them the art that's currently on the walls.

- Kristin Hohenadel blogging from rue Vieille du Temple, Paris, France. She can be reached at kristinh @ apartmenttherapy . com