Full coverage: 2016 Rio Olympics

At each Games, each nation creates a home away from home, a place where athletes can meet with friends and family for a moment away from the pressure of the Olympics.

Casa Italia or Italy House is something different though. It has become a living work of art, as Tracey Holmes found out during a private tour.

Two years ago Diego Molineris, the director of marketing for the Italian NOC, discovered the Costa Brava Club – a private beach club on the headland looking back to Mount Corcovado, the Christ the Redeemer monument and the favelas - synonymous with Rio. He knew this should become Casa Italia.

Diego and his team set about transforming the club from this … to this … Bringing together Italian history, culture, sports, art, and design to create a unique space.

Structure connects Rio to Rome by combining old with new

There is something quite unmistakable about Italian style and Casa Italia is full of it. The house flows from space to space, room to room, combining the ancient and the modern; inverting the colour of the sea and the white of the land; connecting Rome to Rio in one horizontal line. It takes the inside out, and brings the outside in.

The lights here were inspired by the Olympic rings; These are the work of another Italian designer using 3D printing; Even the wallpaper is a work of art turning landscapes of the world into a Brazilian favela. Tradition is mixed with the future, and classic becomes modern.

And as Italian IOC Member, Mario Pescante, says, winning medals isn't everything for Italians beauty brings joy, and to be happy is what's most important.