Selecting the perfect Villa
July, 2010
We’ve headed back to Italy to find the perfect villa for a 2011 Concierge Travel Advisors Signature Journey.
After six years of chartering the same spectacular villa in Tuscany, many of our clients still want the villa experience but in a new location. So, off we went a couple of weeks ago to scout out and vet a new experience.
Our requirements: ten to twelve bedrooms, each with ensuite facilities. We want the spaciousness and feeling of a grand home with a friendly staff to keep the villa tidied and our rooms made up. We want a chef to prepare grand Italian fare (all based upon Italy’s superb fresh ingredients) to be served family style with good local wines. We want an ambiance that allows each guest to wander through the entire villa, watch the chef at work or help ourselves to a drink or snack. As for the location, our specifications call for wonderful walking nearby and situated within an hour’s drive of the region’s best sights.
We’ve traditionally visited Tuscany. Yes, we do love Tuscany and all of us have read and seen much of it on television and at the movies. We love the rolling hills, olive trees (which of course results in that wonderful olive oil) and great vineyards. And then, of course, there’s Florence, Siena, the old hilltop villages, Pisa and the nearby Cinque de Terra.
Next year we’re headed to the fabled south of Italy, to the lush countryside where the Caesars built their vacation villas. If you have visited Capri, Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano or Ravello, you know the lush, sensuous countryside we have in mind. During our previous visits, we’ve found outstanding dining, stunning views around every corner, (good shopping!) and friendly locals.
We began by visiting Naples for a few days. We both think Naples deserves another look these days. When Naples is mentioned, many of us think of crime and the recent garbage strikes. Yes, you still need to watch your wallet, as in any big city, but this is a very vibrant town. There are some lovely hotels in Naples well located to the heart of the old town. We selected the Hotel Romeo, a five star design hotel just across from the cruise ship pier and departure point for the jetcats bound for Capri, Sorrento and Amalfi. This year-old hotel really impressed us with it’s contemporary design paired with an art deco flavor. Our room boasted a harbor view and was so sophisticated in it’s furnishings, I had trouble figuring out how to open the closet door, turn on the shower or the air conditioning. Alas, once I was given a lesson it was a breeze.
We walked through residential neighborhoods, watched vendors sell dozens of varieties of fresh fish at the many local markets and dodged more motorbikes than Venice has pigeons. We took the ‘Hop-on Hop-off’ bus throughout the city and along the city’s picturesque coastline. This is a busy city but worth a day or two to see some spectacular sights and some of Europe’s best art museums. Just after Sunday mass, we explored the stunning Duomo.
Of course, Naples is famous for creating one of our favorite foods of all time: pizza. I made sure we had ample opportunities to enjoy it in its countless variations. One evening when it was raining sideways, we ducked into a small family restaurant. I mentioned to Paul “this is exactly what I like; a neighborhood trattoria filled with local diners.” Five minutes later a Japanese group of 25 arrived and went downstairs to dine in a large group arena I had overlooked. Ah the big city.
The next day we left for Sorrento. Instead of renting a car (you have to be nuts to drive through Naples or, for that matter, in most large cities in Italy) or taking a taxi which was about 150 euro , we elected to take the jetcat. The cost was just 28 euros for the two of us including our four bags (I really need to learn to travel lighter). The hotel porter assisted us in wheeling our bags over to the boarding area. Forty minutes after departure we arrived in Sorrento, found a taxi and headed to our hotel.
Over the next couple of days we were scheduled to visit the three villas we had preselected. It’s important to note that selecting a villa over the internet is somewhat similar to buying a diamond ring from a vending machine. Unless you see it up close you have no idea what you are getting.
The Amalfi Coastline
The first villa we inspected was the right size and the friendly manager was also the chef and offered a cooking school which I thought was a good sign. The kitchen was marvelous and I could see some of our guests enjoying a morning with a lesson in Italian food. But as we moved through the rooms it was dull – no style or vibrancy. There were few public rooms to mingle and lounge inside, particularly if the weather should become inclement. Also basing ourselves at this villa would have required a good bit of driving to see the stunning coastline and the sights everyone will want to see. We checked that one off our list.
The next villa had been built by the owner specifically as a business proposition. It looked lovely from the outside and as we approached the pool area which also overlooked the sea, it was spectacular. Wonderful deck space with a huge infinity pool and outdoor showers and lounge chairs. We were excited to tour the inside. The top floor held the one main public room and a dining room. Though this villa included 12 spacious bedrooms it only offered seating in the living room for about 6-8 people. The dining room had no warmth – it was if you were taking a banquet room in a hotel. The six rooms on the top floor were all suites with wonderful decks leading to the pool area. The remaining six rooms on the lower level made you feel as though you were walking through a hospital corridor and the rooms were smaller, dark and without a terrace. The kitchen was not designed for guests to kibitz with the chef and our general feeling was that we were in a modern hotel without much warmth. That’s not Italian!
Paul and I wondered if the last villa we had scheduled to visit would meet our needs or if we needed to go back to the drawing board. This villa was located in a beautiful residential section of Sorrento and sheltered by trees and gardens. (The legend is that Michael Jackson rented it several years ago.)
We were met by the owner, a charming woman, who made us feel right at home immediately. As we entered we looked first into a warm library filled with books and comfy chairs and couches. To our left, and down a few steps, was a charming dining area in an atrium. Next to the atrium was a large living area that could easily seat twenty but was setup in small groupings to provide an intimate feeling. Beyond that, we saw a formal dining room. Then we came to the most important room, of course, the kitchen: Not huge but perfectly sized with all the right equipment and convenient seating to converse with the chef.
We wandered out by the lovely pool area, surrounded by beautiful foliage and lush, fragrant lemon trees (for our evening limoncello). (If you have visited Sorrento, you might recall the giant lemons, two or three times the size of ours.) This villa offers us several areas to dine outside, take drinks and antipasti or lounge by pool with a good book.
Most of the bedrooms are upstairs, some with a terrace but all with lovely views overlooking the city of Sorrento or the sea. This house also offered an elevator to the second floor which we felt was a nice addition. Two bedrooms were located poolside outside the main house but steps from the door to the kitchen. We’re liking it.
We felt very excited about the flexibility this villa offered; we liked the location – an upscale residential area certainly not known to tourists located ten to fifteen minutes by foot to the heart of Sorrento. Its location is superb for visiting the other villages and cities we’ll see during our ten days there. We’re really liking it.
This will be our base to explore some of Europe’s most beautiful countryside. Follow me next time as I describe where we’ll visit as we explore the Sorrentine peninsula and the Amalfi coastline. In the meantime, keep your calendar cleared for next May!
Ciao for now,
Christine
To find our details on our Villa and all of our upcoming signature journeys, go to http://www.finevoyages.com/signaturejourneys/.
It’s a glorious morning! About 6 am we sailed into southern Europe’s only fjord, the Bay of Kotor. Surrounded on both sides by towering mountains, our ship feels small. Soon we’ll go ashore to explore the old walled city of Kotor, a fortified town built by the Venetians.
We’ve enjoyed some wonderful days. Two days ago we sailed into the Croatian port of Sibenik, where we embarked on one of our Signature Journey excursions. Under the care of a young but passionate guide, we drove to nearby Split, Croatia, to begin our day. As you may recall, the Roman emperor Diocletian was the first to actually retire from office instead of dying or losing his office to a military coup. Rather than going into an assisted living community, Diocletian chose this handsome seaport to build an opulent palace. Over the centuries, the locals took over parts of the palace for their own accommodations, however one can still see some the Roman grandeur. Our guide maintains that the cathedral (once a Roman temple) is the oldest Christian church in the world.
Dubrovnik: Yesterday the Seabourn Quest sailed into the waters surrounding the walled city of Dubrovnik, once one of the Mediterranean’s great sea powers. When we first visited Dubrovnik 15-20 years ago, shortly after the conflict in the Balkans came to an end, there was not much activity. The city had been shelled heavily by Serb forces perched on the mountain that dominates the city. The people were grim and the shops mostly empty. What a difference a decade makes. Entrepreneurs have blossomed: many of the old stone buildings have been taken over with shops and restaurants on every corner. Recently a funicular was completed to take visitors to the top of the city’s mountain for stunning panoramas. Surprisingly, in addition to our small ship, four large ships docked in Dubrovnik yesterday, filling the narrow streets with tourists. We stayed in late so the city was virtually ours after all the others sailed away late in the afternoon.
top and we popped them in our mouth, rind and all! Fantastico.
