Casa Malaparte is a red masonry box with reverse pyramidal stairs leading to the roof patio.

Casa Malaparte's interior and exterior (particularly the rooftop patio) are prominently featured in Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film, Contempt (Le Mépris).

It suffered vandalism and unmitigated exposure to the elements for many years and was seriously damaged, including the desecration of a cocklestove, before the first serious renovation started in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The house can be reached by sea, on calm days only, as the waves are cast upon treacherous rocks and there has not been an official pier for many years.

[citation needed] The book Malaparte: Casa come me (A House Like Me), edited by Michael McDonough, includes drawings and essays by many prominent artists, architects, and others, including James Wines, Tom Wolfe, Robert Venturi, Emilio Ambasz, Ettore Sottsass, Michael Graves, Willem Dafoe, Peter Eisenman, Wiel Arets and Colman Andrews.