Holly Lueders and her daughter, Venetia Sacret Young, have renovated numerous historic properties together. This particular project, the renovation of Convento di San Francesco, was led by Sacret Young, and completed with the help of her mother. "Before finding this property, we searched all over Italy for about three years," Lueders told Insider.

They first saw the abandoned building, which is located in Pitigliano, Tuscany, in 2006. "When we saw this, the second we were in front of it, we both knew it had a lot of potential," Lueders said. "The magic was still there," she continued. "It had never been touched or restored."