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While Villa Anita DV offers one-of-a-kind rooms to spend the night in one of the most untouched and pristine  places on earth, it is also a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit art museum with an educational focus on reclamation of life, materials, discard, and ourselves. Overnight guests, families on vacation , and high school classes have turned Villa Anita DV into a getaway, laboratory, experience, etc. for everyone to learn something and be inspired. 

Founded by artist, Carlo Roncancio in 2010, Villa Anita DV started with a piece of property in the tip of Death Valley NP and a log cabin style house built with railroad ties. Set against the backdrop of the vast, open desert, the unique house and property were a blank canvas for Carlo. Now, it is 10 acres filled with sculptures, cabanas and, shaded walkways, diverse vegetable and fruit gardens, and piles of materials waiting to be used for future projects.  Now, Carlo and his partner Jack Holloman live on the property full time with their five rescue dogs. Living here, they have created a comfortable dwelling with recycled materials in an oppressive climate, and it is a continuous process. They have discovered alternative ways to use everyday objects that are forgotten about or thrown away. For example, a broken refrigerator sitting on it's back becomes a raised bed for veggies. An old  deformed piece of furniture becomes part of an outdoor wall, casting shade. 

There are countless ways to reuse the everyday objects of our lives, and part of our mission here has become to salvage these materials before they make it to a landfill. This act of salvaging has further manifested itself in our lives by teaching us to reclaim the parts of us that we have forgotten about, or that are buried too deeply within us. This is an extremely healing process, and the reason we live, work, and create here year-round. We realized that even back in the beginning, when Villa Anita DV was a barren piece of property, the land itself and the historic cabin had to be reclaimed and salvaged from desertification. Since then, and through the act of reclaiming, Villa Anita DV has become an oasis, a powerful ship, a site of recovery, and now a place for the gathering of people.