An Atlanta entrepreneur searching for the perfect home base finally found it in a Tuscan ruin - see the before and after photos of her 12th century Italian fortress

Annette Joseph

Before and after: the master bedroom at La Fortezza.

• American stylist, photo producer, and author Annette Joseph found a 12th century fortress in northern Tuscany and renovated it from the inside out.
• She turned the property into a space to teach workshops, and to rent out for weddings, events, and company retreats.
• After two years of renovations, she's turned the fortress into a home base for her business.

Stylist, photo producer, and author Annette Joseph wanted a space to expand her workshop and teaching business. What she found, or - as the Italian saying goes - the house that found her, is an 8,500 square-foot 12th century fortress in Lunigiana, Italy.

"I knew it would be the perfect location to conduct creative workshops and retreats, and, everyone could stay on the grounds," Atlanta-based Joseph told Business Insider of the 27-acre property in northern Tuscany. The main building was once a fortress housing soldiers who protected the land. Joseph has aptly given it the name of La Fortezza, "The Fortress."

Reimagining and renovating the space was a process - the previous owners had plans of making the space a bed and breakfast, but construction halted in 2011 and it was put on the market. She had to redo the front stone facades, as well as the roof and floors - all the while skirting hiccups like bats living inside the master suite. "Let's just say that renovating in the Italian countryside is not for the faint of heart," said Joseph.

Ahead, a look at La Fortezza, which has gone from "a dark and damp mess" to "collected, bohemian, and very comfortable."